


Mine Would Be Him (Clint Barton x reader x Everett Ross)

by middleearth2asgard



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Female Reader, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, I just love Martin freeman being in the MCU, Love Story, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive, Slow Build, Sort of a Love Triangle, Subtle Love Story, and I love Hawkeye too, are we friends or are we more?, covers about a twenty year span, hopefully someone will care about this besides me, reader gets to choose who she wants at the end, the black panther trailer brought this about, the bond between partners, the way relationships change throughout life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 13:01:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 38,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12841716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middleearth2asgard/pseuds/middleearth2asgard
Summary: This is a Clint Barton x reader x Everett Ross story.Disclaimer: Ok, I absolutely adore the MCU, but I don't read comic books, so any background information about these characters from the comics is totally irrelevant here.Now that that's out of the way, since the MCU has never really addressed Clint's early days at SHIELD, and Ross will probably never be enough of a "major character" to merit a background story, I thought this might be a cool idea. Both guys are about the same age, so the premise of this story is that before Ross was CIA, he started his career as a SHIELD trainee at the same time as Barton and the reader. This story will start with their first meetings and go up through current movie events (if my chapters beat the next few movies out though, we will just deal with the inaccuracies.)Hope you enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue is set in the days leading up to the beginning of the upcoming infinity war.

"Why do people always do their deep thinking while looking through a window?" you quietly asked the rain as it poured down on the opposite side of the glass. 

"Because it beats staring at a wall," a deep, familiar voice said behind you. You smiled as you felt the towering frame of Steve Rogers move into your personal space as he came to stand beside you. 

"You know," you began, "there wasn't time to do this before New York. Maybe there were a few fleeting moments of it before Sokovia. And Germany...well that was family so there was no point...but I'm sure doing it now" you added with a sigh. 

"I know what you mean," he said, "I've been guilty of it a few times myself." 

"Regrets are a hell of a thing," you said.

"I don't like to call them regrets if they are something I can still fix," he said. "They don't get that title until they are completely out of reach." 

Turning to face you, he took your hands in his and said "If you want to talk, I'm here. As long as it takes." Then he added with a sad smile, "I'm kind of an expert in lost time." 

"Where would I start?"

"The beginning is always as good a place as any." 

"The beginning was a long time ago. This could take awhile." 

"Like I said, as long as it takes."

"Well if we're going to do this," you said with a mirthless laugh, "I'm going to need a drink." 

Five minutes later, you and Steve were curling up on the couch, two glasses of your favorite wine in front of you, still watching the rain fall. 

"Steve, do you know that song 'Mine Would Be You'?" 

"Yeah, I think I've heard you playing it before. Why do you ask?"

"Because everything he sings about...how the girl he loved and lost was both his finest moment and his greatest sorrow...well, mine would be him," you said, taking a large sip of your wine.

"But which him?" Steve asked.

With a sad smile you said, "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me once my story is over."


	2. Chapter 2

It was the summer after your high school graduation when the recruiter first showed up at your parents' house. An employee for a clandestine organization you'd never heard of just sitting in your living room, sipping a cup of coffee, and flipping through a file on you that you never knew existed is a hard occasion to forget. 

Before you could even ask why they had a file on you in the first place, he was telling you all about how they liked keeping track of possible future recruits, and the only child of a top performing former special forces operative happened to fall into that category, especially when the child in question is female. They felt they were sorely lacking in that area. There were so many situations where a female field agent could be so much more useful and they had too few of them to go around. 

He handed you and your parents stacks of papers discussing opportunities for advancement, salary, benefits, educational reimbursements, etc. They hoped you would want to continue your education after completing your training period. He explained that they preferred to get their recruits as soon as possible instead of waiting for them to complete college, and if you decided to go back part-time while working for them, they would pay for everything. 

Then, as quickly as he had appeared, he packed up his briefcase, shook everyone's hand in turn, and left. 

For the next few weeks, it was your family's go-to argument. Your mom, although terribly proud and supportive of her husband's former career, didn't want that type of life for her little girl. She wanted you to go to college and get the kind of normal job that would let you come home safe and sound every night. Your father, on the other hand, had spent your entire life teaching you everything he knew so that you could always take care of yourself and do what you believed to be right. 

In the end, you managed to give both of them a little something. You would go to the training program, and if you completed it successfully and went to work for them, you would get a degree and try to eventually advance to a hopefully safer administrative position. 

As you sat at the desk in your room, filling out the required piles of paperwork, you read the name of the people who you were signing your life away to out loud to yourself: "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division...damn they need to come up with a better name." 

\-------------------------

Your dorm room at the training facility was....dismal, at best. It was small, and cramped, and the walls were a depressing shade of gray. At least since you were the only girl in this group of recruits you didn't have to deal with a roommate, a very comforting thought considering you'd never shared your living space with anyone in your entire life. 

You hadn't had a chance to meet the others yet, but you had heard there were ten of you total. Apparently this place was super selective. For some reason, you had let yourself be dumb enough to think that the training facility was located at headquarters, but of course it wasn't. The high ups wouldn't want a bunch of green newbies hanging around, trying to stick their noses where they didn't belong. 

Sick of staring at your gray walls, you decided to go take a walk and explore your temporary home. The place reminded you of an old army barracks, which it may very well have been. It was located out in the woods with lots of room for nature runs, practice maneuvers, burying bodies of pain in the ass recruits who knew too much. If this place had a class in paranoia, you'd get an A for sure. 

To brighten up your outlook, you decided to study the people you came across. There were some other females, but mostly a lot of guys, ranging in age from about twenty to forty. Strangely enough, each one seemed to be better looking than the one before...the future spies of America were apparently all young James Bond's in training. 

One in particular caught your attention more so than the others. He was leaner than most you had seen, while still possessing a strong, muscled build with chiseled arms. When you saw what he pulled out of his case, it all made sense. 

He had definitely achieved the perfect archer's body. And from the looks of that bow, it was no wonder. It wasn't a cheap little thing that boys play with at summer camp; it was top of the line and looked like it had been modified to his specifications. This was the personal tool of choice for an obvious professional. 

"That's one hell of a nice bow," you called out from where you were standing behind him. 

He turned and smiled at you while loading his arrow. Well, it was more of a smirk really. Not a mischievous or mean-spirited smirk, just the look of a good-natured guy who could probably be quite the handful at times. 

"Thanks," he said, before quickly turning and shooting his target, hitting it in the very center of the bullseye, "I'm fond of it anyway." 

You walked closer so you could study it better. It had some kind of button close to where he was holding it in his hand. 

"Is that a customized control so that you can alternate between types of arrowheads?" you asked excitedly. 

"Yeah, how did you know that?" he asked, looking at you in a way that clearly said he was impressed.

"I'm more of a gun girl myself," you replied, "but my old man would be like a kid at Christmas if he could see this thing." 

"Your dad's got good taste." 

You watched as he quickly reloaded, aimed, and released, sending the arrow to split the previous one right down the middle, something you had ever only seen Robin Hood do in an old cartoon.

"Whew," you whistled, "you must have an eye like a hawk to shoot like that without a scope." 

He chuckled and held out his hand, "the name's Clint Barton." 

Looking at him now, you really began to notice his face for the first time. He was a few years older than you, but definitely not over twenty-five. He had blue eyes, a distinctive nose, and a nice smile. It was a very handsome face. 

"Y/n," you replied, taking his hand and shaking it gently. 

"So, y/n, you want to give her a try?" he offered, holding the bow out to you. 

"Oh no, I know how boys are about their toys. You'd find a scratch on her tomorrow and blame me for eternity," you said with a laugh, causing him to smile.

"Well what we were you in the middle of doing when I distracted you with my talents?" 

"I was just exploring. You're welcome to join me if you like." 

"Better not be an empty offer because I'm accepting," he said as he put his bow back in its case, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and began following after you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, this chapter isn't very exciting and there isn't a whole lot of dialogue, but it's necessary before moving on to bigger and better things.

Well it turned out that Clint was one of the other nine recruits in your group. When you asked how they didn't manage to snatch him up a few years earlier, he simply smiled at you and said, "I kept turning them down." 

Clint was so easy to talk to that you kept feeling like you were chattering away incessantly. But whenever you'd comment on it, he would just smile and make a joke and get you started all over again. 

However, when he offered to introduce you to the director, you decided that he must have had enough and had decided to give you a hard time.

"Don't pick on me, Clint," you said, smacking him on the arm. "You don't know the director of the strategic homeland blah blah blah anymore more than I do." 

"Not the current one, but I happen to be rooming with the future one. At least, that's what he seems to think, so I've taken to calling him that. He's in our group too. Want to meet him?"

"Sure, why not?"

You followed Clint to his room, which happened to be on the same hallway as yours. When you got there, you let him enter first so that he could carry all his gear in and have room to put it away since the rooms were barely designed for two, much less three people. 

"Y/n, this is Everett Ross. Ross, this is y/n. She's in our group." 

Peeking around Clint's frame, you saw a guy who was going to look terribly out of place among everybody else. He was a lot smaller for one thing. He was maybe five feet six inches tall, tops. One hundred and thirty pounds at the most, and he'd have to be soaking wet to hit that. He looked to be about the same age as his roommate, but whereas Clint had already started developing a man's build, Ross was still holding onto his teenage proportions. He was also very nicely dressed for a guy his age while somehow managing to look like he would never actually go shopping. 

Just when you were wondering how in the world they picked this guy, he quickly stood up and offered you his hand while saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Please call me Everett." 

And that's when you saw it.

That smile. 

You knew right then and there that this guy wasn't going to just climb the ladder, he was going to turn it into an art form. He seemed to exude a confidence and a strength that didn't seem possible. In a room full of a hundred men far tougher than he was, he would still find a way to be the one calling the shots. 

"It's nice to meet you, too," you said, shaking his hand. 

"So, have you met anyone here besides us?" he asked. 

"No, not yet. I've walked around a bit, but there are more people here than I expected for only ten trainees." 

"Well, they use this place for more than just training brand new recruits. They also use it for..."

Even though you were very interested in what Everett was saying, you got distracted by the sight of Clint copying him and rolling his eyes. 

You had the distinct feeling that these two were never really going to be more than roommates. 

\------------------

The rest of the recruits were nice enough, in their own way. They were all the big, brawny, muscled type that Everett said probably didn't have enough brains combined to fill a cookie jar. You reminded him that it wasn't smart to insult people who could break you in half like a toothpick.

In reality, the entire group got along just fine. But Clint and Everett were the only ones you grew close to during the program. Your two guys couldn't have been more opposite from each other though. 

Clint dedicated all his time to training to be a top notch military grade field agent. Anything dealing with weaponry, hand to hand combat, survival, etc got his full and undivided attention. Everett, on the other hand, focused on leadership strategies, interrogation methods, and investigative techniques. He didn't just mindlessly crave power; he had his ambitions and he wanted to be damn good at his job. You tried to split your studies down the middle. The nitty gritty side of things constantly appealed to you and kept your adrenaline pumping, but you wanted to make sure you were as well-rounded as possible. Plus, it helped you in the role of mediator and voice of reason when your boys got into one of their many sass-offs. 

The three of you made such an effective team in training that, when it was almost time for graduation, SHIELD (as you now called it) offered to make you your own little unit inside the organization, to be overseen by someone with more experience, of course. 

The graduation ceremony itself was a small affair, with only immediate family allowed to attend. But damn, did it feel well-deserved after all that hard work. The icing on the cake for you was that you got to meet Peggy Carter herself in person. You wanted to tell her what an inspiration she had become to you since you started your journey, or maybe how much you had always loved and admired Captain America (which you immediately scratched off the list; long dead boyfriends were probably not the best topic of conversation at a first meeting). But when the time came to shake her hand, all you managed was a timid "thank you" in response to her congratulations. 

After the ceremony, your parents were finally going to meet your "boys" as you now called them. The guys weren't sure whether they liked that name or not, but since you said you were the glue that held the group together, they could just shut up and deal with it. 

Personally, you had been dreading this meeting ever since you told your parents that the three of you would be getting a place together to cut down on living expenses. Actually, you had cowardly blurted it out at the very end of a phone call home before quickly ending it with "love you, bye!", then hanging the receiver up like it was going to explode, and ripping the phone cord out of the wall so they couldn't call back. 

Your dad gave them the classic "you hurt my daughter and I'll teach you the meaning of pain" look while he watched for any signs of weakness as he shook their hands in his vice grip. Everett took it like a man, but it was clear to you that it had to have hurt like hell. Clint must have given as good as he got because you actually saw your dad blink and the rocky hardness of his face soften for a moment. 

"Hey, Hawkeye," you started, using the nickname he'd taken for himself after your first meeting, "why don't you show dad your bow? He'll get a kick out of it." 

"It would be an honor," he said, leading your dad away to the firing range, telling him details along the way.

"Y/n," Everett said, "I'm going to go catch up with my family. I'll see you later? I'd like you to meet them." 

"Sure, hun," you said, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I'll find you." 

Once he was gone, you and your mom were alone for the first time in months.

"So," she began, "they seem fond of you."

"I'm fond of them too, Mom." 

"Do you think living with them is a good idea?" 

You sighed, "Places close to work in our individual price ranges are very hard to find. If we all chip in, we can get something that's actually nice and not 30 miles from headquarters. I'll have my own bedroom. It's not like I'm shacking up with them. And Dad doesn't seem to have a problem with it now that he's met them."

"Oh, well you know your father. As long as they don't pass out from his threats and seem like good comrades who will always have your back, he doesn't think to worry about anything else. There are other possible repercussions."

"Such as?" 

"Such as you are a very attractive young woman-"

"Thanks, mom," you said, playfully rolling your eyes.

"Let me finish," she gently scolded you. "What I'm trying to say is that these two don't seem like they'd even be friends if it wasn't for you. They would get along well enough at the office, maybe grab a beer together a couple of times a year, occasionally bump heads over some work decision, and that would be the extent of their relationship. But you make them more than that, as long as they both feel like they are getting equal attention. I don't know their feelings for you. I don't know if you're their best friend, the sister they always needed, or if they're smitten with you. But if you ever start favoring one over the other, I think there is going to be trouble. These aren't a couple of guys who work at the coffee shop down the street. They are spies, government agents, maybe even assassins." 

You gave her a look.

"Well I don't know what you all do here! The point is, a lot could be at stake. I just want you to be careful and remember that. You're my baby girl and I love you."

"I love you too, Mama," you said, giving her a hug, "and I'll remember."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that the foundation is done, we can focus on the fun stuff like relationship building and character interactions. I think it will pick up at this point.

The house you picked out was a quaint little 3 bed, 2 bath rental situated in a nice neighborhood only about ten miles from work. It had a bit of age on it, but had been updated in the past few years and seemed to be well taken care of. 

Afraid of what your boys' decorating style might be like (you envisioned nothing but a couple of recliners, a tv, a pool table, and swimsuit model posters all over the walls), you took over the job of adding the finishing touches yourself. You kept it simple, but still managed to make the place look stylish, yet homey. 

Clint turned out to be a huge help around the house. You liked telling him that if the special agent thing didn't work out, he could always get a job remodeling homes. It took very little time for the three of you to settle into your new place. 

The job, however, was a different story. SHIELD had given all of you a few weeks off after graduation to relocate and get acquainted to the area and all that. It was now the Saturday before the very first Monday of your new career and the nerves had been hitting you hard. It would have been so much easier for you without all that time off to get worked up. 

You were currently sitting in the living room, flipping through magazines and not paying any attention whatsoever to what was in them. Everett was sitting on the couch across the room, watching you with a strange look on his face. 

"Y/n, what was on the last page you just looked at?" 

"I don't know...a perfume ad?"

"Try a half-naked woman. That's Barton's Sports Illustrated."

"Okay, so I'm swimsuit shopping. What's your point?"

"My point is you've got to chill out about starting the job. You haven't been acting like yourself. And you've been driving us crazy..." he muttered the last part under his breath, but you heard him anyway and shot him a look. 

"I'm just a little nervous is all. It's like that first day of school feeling all over again."

"We'll be there too," he said. "There's nothing to worry about." 

Before you could thank him, you heard the front door open and a familiar voice yell out "I've got a surprise you guys!" 

"It better be a puppy!" you yelled back. 

Clint entered the room with his arms full of bags and said, "If you want a puppy, I'll go get you a puppy. But for right now, this'll have to do." 

He set the bags down on the coffee table and pulled out each item, announcing it in turn. 

"Chinese food, beer, a couple bottles of the lady's favorite wine," he passed you a bottle before continuing on, "and our entertainment for the evening: Marathon Man, Goldfinger, and Three Days of the Condor." 

You stared at the tower of spy movies sitting in front of you. 

"Clint Barton," you said, "you are going to make a wonderful husband for some lucky gal one day." 

"I thought you'd like it, baby" he said, bending down to give you a kiss on the temple. 

Everett picked up the VHS tape of Marathon Man and stared at it before giving Clint a bewildered expression. 

"She's nervous about starting her spy job, so of all the movies you could have picked, you get these?" he asked. 

"Yeah, it'll make Monday not seem like such a big deal. Come on, I'm ready to eat." 

Years down the road, when you would think about your favorite memories of the three of you together, this night was always one of them. And, strangely enough, Clint was right. That dentist office scene did make Monday not seem like such a big deal after all....

\----------------

"Ok, so how do I look?" you asked, popping out of the bathroom door and spinning around so they could see your whole outfit. 

"Perfect," Everett said with a smile. 

"You look like somebody's secretary," Clint said. 

"She does not! She looks like a professional young lady." 

"Who makes coffee runs and faxes reports." Turning his attention to you, Clint added, "believe me, you need to change." 

"Well what would you pick out for her then?" Everett asked. 

"Something that says 'I'm a sexy badass who can kill anybody here.' It needs to be a little bit tighter, with more black, more leather, and at least one weapon visible at all times." 

"Oh yes, let's just advertise her great little figure so every man in the place can hit on her. Fantastic idea!" 

"They hit on her, and they're going to have to deal with me." 

"Hey-oh!" you called out from where you were still standing, getting their attention. "You guys remember I'm still here right." 

"It's all about image," Clint said to you. "Who do you want to be? Career Barbie? Or-"

"Lara Croft," Everett finished for him with a look of disdain. 

Rolling your eyes, you retreated back into the bathroom. 

"But don't take too long! We can't be late our first day!" Clint yelled through the door. 

\---------------

When you entered SHIELD headquarters for the first time, it was...thrilling. There were people everywhere, going this way and that. The only problem was that they all knew where they were going, while your little trio stood there with no clue what to do. 

Suddenly, a voice popped up behind you.

"Excuse me, miss, but can I help you with something?" 

You turned to find a male agent, only a few years older than yourself, standing there smiling at you. He was cute, in his own way, and looked like he'd be an absolute sweetheart. 

"Yes," you replied. "It's our first day, new agents and all that, and-" 

"You have no idea where to go," he finished for you. "Follow me." 

As he led you up a flight of stairs, he offered you his hand and said "Agent Phil Coulson, and you must be y/n." 

"How did you-" 

"Know who you were? I like to be familiar with the names and faces of all the new recruits." 

"Then you know that I must be Clint Barton," you heard Hawkeye say behind you. "And he must be Everett Ross. Unless of course you hadn't noticed we were here yet." 

"Oh, of course, I'm sorry. It's very nice to meet both of you," Coulson said, blushing a bit red from embarrassment. 

"Ignore him," you said to Coulson while giving Clint a disapproving glare, "he can be a bit of a dick." 

To break the tension, you asked Coulson, "Does Peggy Carter come around often?" 

"Sometimes, but not as much as she used to. You a big fan of hers?"

"Oh yeah, I think she's great. She's achieved so much in her lifetime. Besides, anyone who was friends with Captain America has got to be wonderful." 

He stopped in his tracks and stared at you. "You like Captain America?" he asked. 

"Like him? I've got one of his old tour posters hanging in my room. The man is the love of my life." 

"Same here!" Coulson said, before correcting the statement. "I meant, on the poster not on him being the love of my life. What I mean is, he was my hero when I was growing up. I've got all the comic books, and I'm working on a mint condition collection of his trading cards."

"Get out! That is awesome! Those are almost impossible to come by anymore. I'd love to see them sometime." 

That's when you noticed he was absolutely beaming at you, "Well I'd love to show them to you. Anytime you want." 

"Well look where we are!" Everett exclaimed. "Human Resources. Says it right there on the door. Well, thank you very much, sir." He was grabbing you by the arm now and quickly leading you through the door. "Pleasure meeting you. See you around some time. Goodbye!" 

\------------------

"Could you two have been any bigger jerks to that guy?" you asked while sitting between them in the waiting area of the Human Resources office. "What if he's our new boss? You both made spectacles of yourself."

Clint said, "A) He's way too young to be our new boss." 

"He is a senior agent though," you interrupted. 

"True," Clint said before continuing, "B) We did not make spectacles of ourselves. A spectacle would have been if I held him down while Everett beat him up. Which answers your first question: yes, we could have been much bigger jerks." 

"The one time I try to make friends with someone besides you two losers, and you have to mess it up." 

"Ha!" Everett laughed sarcastically beside you. "Well I'd love to show them to you. Anytime you want," he copied in a singsongy voice.

Returning to his normal tone, he added "Probably wants to show you a lot more than his cards..." 

"Everett!" you scolded, putting emphasis on each syllable. "I don't interfere in your love lives!" 

"What love lives? You do realize in the year since we met you, you are the only woman we've spent any time with whatsoever." 

"Well excuse me, but I don't think I've been keeping you from it either. If you want to go out and get yourself a girlfriend, go ahead. I'm not stopping you, and I probably wouldn't interfere!" 

Sensing the beginnings of a spat right there in the office, Clint leaned forward and put his hand on your knee. "I think all Everett is trying to say is that you're our best friend and we love you. And if the situation was reversed, and there was a girl agent staring all dreamily at one of us, you'd be concerned and maybe a touch jealous about it."

"I suppose I would, to a reasonable extent," you mumbled out grumpily. 

"Alright then, we'll let it go now," he said, staring at both of you for confirmation. He must have taken the combined silence as an affirmation because he leaned back in his seat and didn't say another word about it.


	5. Chapter 5

The fight was quickly forgotten as you were swept into a whirlwind of "first day at work" tasks. Pictures were taken, badges were made, pass codes and security clearances handed out, and guns assigned. The only thing left was meeting the agent who you would be answering to directly. 

"I wonder if he's someone we've heard of before. Some big time guy," Everett pondered aloud.

"Might be a she," you responded.

"Might be a hot she," Clint added.

You gave him a look that said, "Really?" 

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "I think I'd kind of like taking orders from a hot older woman." 

"That takes my mind places it never wanted to go, Hawk," you replied.

"You're welcome for that mental image, baby." 

"If you're quite done now we'll get started."

In the doorway stood a man, probably in his forties, African-American, wearing an all black outfit, the highlight of which was a long coat that you were pretty sure whipped behind him dramatically when he walked. He had a formidable presence that made you glad you weren't playing for the opposing team. In other words, he was a grade A, one hundred percent, down to the bone badass. 

"I'm Agent Nick Fury," he said, entering the room. As you watched him, your first thought was, "Score, totally nailed it on the coat theory." 

"And you're Agent Y/n," he said, throwing a file onto the table and staring straight at you. At this point, you were positive the man could see directly into people's souls...and possibly reach in and rip them out with his bare hands if he wanted to. 

"Agent Clint Barton," a second file joined the first. "And Agent Everett Ross," file number three joined its friends. 

"You're my responsibility, so don't screw shit up." 

"We'll be working directly with you, sir?" you heard Clint ask beside you. 

"Hell no," Fury answered. "I don't have time to babysit. You'll answer to somebody else who will answer to me. Coulson, get in here!" 

You wanted to turn and give Clint that "I told you so" look. You wanted to rub his face in the fact that you were right and he was wrong. But you also liked living and you weren't sure Fury would tolerate any sort of interruption, no matter how small. 

Coulson entered the room, still wearing the same smile as earlier. How the hell he could seem so relaxed standing in his boss's presence was a mystery to you. 

"They're yours," Fury said. "Now get to work." And just like that, he was gone. 

After a few moments of silence you asked, "Is he always like that?"

"No, some days he can be downright scary. He's in a good mood today."

\---------------

"Welcome to our own personal Command Center," Coulson said as he held open the glass door to what looked to be nothing more than a vacated office. "I know it's not much, but if we prove ourselves then we can move up and play with the big boys."

"It won't be a problem," Clint said. 

Everett had been almost painfully quiet since your meeting with Fury. You didn't know whether he was in awe or scared shitless. You made a mental note to ask him later in private. 

Clint, on the other hand, seemed totally unaffected. Of course, he wasn't the type to be intimidated, and Fury was just the sort of man that would command the archer's respect with ease. 

"So I'll be honest with you about how this works," Coulson started. "We get the assignments that the higher up teams don't want. The ones that they don't think merit their talent and expertise. Some of them will be dumb; some of them will be dangerous. Either way, we get the job done and get out. That's all that matters. Understood?" 

All of you nodded silently. 

"Ok, go ahead and knock off for the day. We'll start going through potentials first thing in the morning. Y/n, do you mind if I speak to Ross and Barton privately for a moment?" 

"Um, of course not." 

Even though waiting for them outside the room would have sufficed, you felt awkward just standing around so you gave into the urge to make a hasty retreat downstairs. It was only a few minutes before they caught up with you, however. 

"What was that about?" you asked, unable to read their expressions.

"Tell you later. Let's go," Clint said.

\----------------

The three of you stopped at a local burger place for dinner on the way home. The meal was excellent, but oddly silent. 

"So..." you began finally, "what was that thing with Coulson about?" 

"Nothing really," Clint said. "He wanted to apologize in case he stepped on our toes earlier." 

Then he got a wicked smirk on his face before adding, "Said he never met a girl who got visibly hot and bothered by his card collection before. He just couldn't help himself."

"He did not!" you yelled, throwing a fry at Clint's head which he deftly grabbed midair and popped into his mouth.

"Ok, so I ad libbed the last part. The point is he made good. We shook hands. I think he's alright." 

"You cool with him too, Ev?" you asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah...sure...fine." 

"Ok, then."

\----------------

"May I come in?" you asked, knocking on the door to Everett's room.

"Yeah, sure." 

He was sitting at his forever tidy desk doing...well, it looked like nothing. There wasn't a book or anything in sight, which meant he was deep in thought. 

Walking over and hopping on his bed you said, "You've been weird all day. You were weird at work and you were weird at dinner and you've been weird since we got home. Are you ok?"

"Yeah...great...really," he mumbled. 

"The only time you string together a series of one word answers is when something is bothering you, so you might as well just go ahead and tell me what it is." 

All you got was silence so you decided to change tactics. "What did you think of Fury?"

"Scary bastard, seems very capable though." 

"And Coulson?"

That got you a minute jaw clench and more silence. 

"So Coulson is the problem then? You don't like him for some reason?"

He opened his mouth to say something, visibly changed his mind, and closed it back. 

"We're not going to get anywhere fast here, are we?"

"What are you going to do if he asks you out?" he suddenly blurted out at you. 

"He's not going to ask me out."

"That wasn't the question."

"Ok, well he seems like a nice, decent guy who I obviously have at least a couple of common interests with. If he was just some working stiff from the accounting department that I bumped into a few times at the water cooler, then I'd probably say yes and see how it went. But I'm not going to date my boss, or team leader, or whatever the hell he is. And I think he's a reasonable guy who will understand that." 

"Alright," he said with a small smile.

"Why in the world was that bothering you?"

He cleared his throat before simply saying, "We worry about you. Clint and I." 

"Yeah, too much. Now come give me a hug."

Then you hopped up and met him halfway in an embrace, wrapping your arms around his neck. He was at the height that you always hugged him around the neck and rested your chin on his shoulder. When you were pressed close to him, it reminded you how much his body had filled out since you met. He was still slim built, and you knew he'd never have Clint's muscles, but he didn't have that skinny, awkward, teenage boy frame anymore. When you leaned back to let go, you noticed something strange.

"What?" he asked, obviously referring to the confused look on your face.

"Is that what I think it is?" 

"No! Wait, is what what you think it is?"

"Oh my god, it is. You've got a little gray hair right there in the front."

"Oh. Wait, no I don't! I'm too young for a gray hair!" he said rushing to the bathroom to look in the mirror. 

"You know some guys go prematurely gray pretty early, Ev."

"I am not going to go prematurely gray!" 

"You look good in gray. Having it up top would just round out the look. Make you seem very distinguished." 

"I said I am not going to go gray!"

"Keep telling yourself that, sweetie," you said as you left him alone to examine each strand. 

\---------------

"You get it all sorted out?" Clint yelled as he heard you walk down the hall.

"Yeah, I've got him looking for a gray hair. He's good as new. What the hell are you doing?" 

Clint was sitting on the couch reading the stocks page of the newspaper, which wouldn't seem like such a strange sight, but you knew your Clint. 

"Am I going to walk back down the hall and find Ev reading 'Guns and Ammo'?"

"If it makes you feel any better," he said, dropping the first page and revealing another one underneath, "it's just the comics and the obituaries." 

"You do realize that's a warped combo, right?" you asked, dropping down on the couch beside him. 

"I find them entertaining. When someone dies, suddenly everyone makes them sound like a saint. For once I'd like to read an honest one."

"Most people don't want to honor their deceased family members and friends by saying 'I loved him more than anyone, but god he could be a real asshole.'" 

"It's truthful though. Promise me if I die you'll do right by me. 'He was my best friend, but not a day went by that I didn't want to throat punch him for something stupid.'" 

"Don't joke like that, Clint."

"Oh come on, you and I both know I say and do a lot of stupid shit that pisses you off."

"That's not what I meant," you said, really looking at him now. "Don't joke about dying. You are my best friend. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." 

"I guess I'll just have to live forever then. But only if you do too, partner. Agreed?"

"Agreed" you said, resting your head on his shoulder. "Now read to me."

"Ok, Timothy Banks, 86-"

"Not an obituary, you dumbass. Read the comics."


	6. Chapter 6

Work somehow managed to always be the same, yet always different. It was a consistent formula. The team would browse through a stack of file folders containing various assignments, put them in order based on priority, and then start working from the top down. Some of the missions kept you close to home, others sent you to the far side of the world. Wherever you went, whether it was a frozen wasteland or one of the finest cities on earth, Clint Barton was forever at your side. The pair of you handled all the field work, while Coulson and Ross were responsible for the more administrative side of things. Your team performed together like a well-oiled machine and it took no time at all for you to build quite the reputation at SHIELD.

Your off time was spent trying to keep your promise to your mother about getting a college degree. Working a full-time job that required you to be away sometimes weeks at a time made it extremely difficult to keep that promise, however. Your boys, Everett especially, dedicated countless hours to helping you study and complete your assignments. You lost track of the number of times you’d come back from a mission to find that, on top of everything else he had to do to make sure everything ran smoothly, he had somehow managed to write all of your papers. 

The years passed in this way until it was the very end of your last semester. All you had to do was get through one more final and you would be done forever. Clint and Everett had been drilling material into you for the past five hours until Clint finally passed out on the couch. Of course, that wasn’t enough to make Everett relent in his torture of you.

“Please?” you begged him. “Please let me stop. I can’t do this anymore!” 

“Let’s just cover a little bit more. I’m not sure you have a firm enough grasp on those last few chapters.”

“I don’t care about those chapters. I don’t care about this test. I’m done with it, Ev. Done. It is what it is at this point,” you said, jumping up and hurrying off to your room. If you weren’t so mentally drained, you would have had sense enough to lock the door behind you. 

“You have one more test until you are a college graduate. I’m not going to let you mess it all up now,” he said, following you into your room and watching you crawl into bed. 

“Fine, you have until I fall asleep, and that’s it,” you said, pulling the covers back as an unspoken invitation for him to join you.

You watched as he hesitated a moment before getting in the bed with you. He was stiff and rather awkward about the whole process, and you were pretty sure he turned a slight shade of pink as he settled in. 

“Does this make you uncomfortable, Ev?” you asked, nestling up close to him. 

He cleared his throat before replying with, “No, not if it doesn’t bother you. Does it bother you?”

“Honestly, I’ve gotten so used to sleeping with Clint when we’re gone that I hate being in here by myself now.” 

You weren’t sure if it was your imagination or not, but you would have sworn you felt his body tense.

“You and Clint sleep together on missions?”

“We like using the ‘happy honeymooning couple’ cover when we are trying to be inconspicuous. I don’t know of many honeymooners who get separate hotel rooms, and they only ever have one bed, for obvious reasons.”

“Oh.”

You didn’t know why, but you felt an intense need to lay out the whole truth for him.

“Nothing has ever happened, Ev. Clint and I love each other, but not like that. What we have is too important to both of us to chance messing it up by getting sex and romance involved. That’s not always a sure thing, and we need to always be sure about each other.” Then you added with a laugh, “So you don’t have to worry about your two operatives having a lovers’ quarrel in the field and messing everything up if that’s what’s bothering you.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” he said, staring at the wall opposite you. “Everyone knows I only care about work.” After a few quiet moments, he turned to you and said, “You need to be well-rested for tomorrow. You better go to sleep.” 

As he got up to leave, you lazily grabbed his arm and mumbled, “Don’t go. Stay,” before drifting off to sleep beside him.

————————————————————

You awoke to find Clint looking down at you smiling his “cat that ate the canary” grin. 

“Did you two sleep well last night?” He asked. “You obviously must have been exhausted from something or other, because you overslept. If you don’t hurry up, you’re going to miss that test.”

“Oh my god, what time is it?” You yelled, scrambling out the bed while checking the clock on the night stand. “I’m never going to make it in time!”

You quickly grabbed the first clothes you could find and ran into the bathroom to throw them on. 

“Don’t worry, baby,” Clint said from his spot in the bedroom. “I’ll get you there. You know how I drive. I’ll meet you in the car.”

Most of the car ride was spent with you fussing at Clint to change lanes and drive faster and not get you killed, all of which you wanted him to manage to do at the same time. 

He finally interrupted your back seat driving to ask “So what happened after I fell asleep last night? I wake up to find you and Everett all snuggled up together. It was rather adorable.”

“It was not adorable. Everett came in there to harass me into studying some more. We ended up talking instead. We fell asleep. End of story.”

“Then why do you sound defensive about it?”

“I do not sound defensive about it. It is no different than when you and I bunk together, which is what he and I were talking about last night if you must know.”

“You told him about that?”

“Why? Was I not supposed to?”

“I wouldn’t say that. It’s just…well, never mind.”

“No, you’ve started now. You better finish.”

“I don’t know how to put it exactly. I just get the feeling he doesn’t like how close we’ve become the past few years. I mean, we’ve always been close, but we’re partners now, and all of SHIELD knows it. I think he just wants more attention from you is all. He feels like a third wheel.” 

As he finished his sentence, he stopped the car at the sidewalk outside your testing building. Before you opened the door, you leaned over and gave him a quick squeeze.

“Once I ace this test, we will all go out and have a good time together. Everything will get better after this. I know it.”


	7. Chapter 7

“To our girl, the college graduate,” Clint said, raising his glass to meet yours and Everett’s in a toast. After your ceremony, you had insisted on taking them both out to celebrate, your treat, as a reward for suffering right along with you for all those years. The bar was packed full of people, a lot of whom you recognized from campus. You had been lucky enough to claim a nice little corner table where you were less likely to get bumped into by the increasingly rowdy drunks crowded around the bartender. 

“So, are you going to get your master’s degree now?” Everett asked with a coy look on his face, as if he already knew the answer.

“Hell no,” you said taking a sip of your mixed drink. 

“Thank God,” Clint replied. “I couldn’t survive it. Besides, it’s not like it would help with the job we do anyway. She already knows how to shoot and not miss. What more does she need?”

“She could move up to a lot more if she wanted to,” Everett said. As soon as it came out of his mouth, you sensed the beginnings of a fight.

“Is there something wrong with what we do now?” Clint asked. “SHIELD wouldn’t last long without its field operatives. You would do well to remember that.”

“I do remember that. But what are the two of you planning on doing when you turn forty? Fifty? You going to wear eyeglasses just so you can aim? Fight people half your age?”

“Guys,” you started, reaching to grab each of them by the hand, “tonight is supposed to a happy occasion. No bickering, please?”

“Okay, no bickering,” they both mumbled in unison.

You were distracted from their replies by an unwelcome familiar face entering the bar.

“Oh no, not her. Maybe she won’t see me….damn it,” you said as you saw her spot you and wave before starting in your direction.

“Who is it?” Everett asked.

“A girl from school. Her name is Brandi. She’s nothing but trouble. She used to try to talk my ear off all the time about all the hearts she’s broken. It took a great deal of self-control to not threaten to kill her if she didn’t shut up. I swear if she tries anything with either one of you I’ll-“

“Hey, y/n!” Brandi began. “I haven’t seen you in awhile. How have you been?” 

You stared at her as she sat down like she had been invited. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?” She asked, somehow checking out Clint and Everett at the same time. 

Before you could say anything, she went ahead and introduced herself to both of your boys. As you watched her, you couldn’t help but think about which method of killing her would be the most enjoyable.

“So y/n never mentioned having any cute guy friends…what do you do for a living?” She had her chin propped on her hand and had her full attention focused on Clint at the moment. He must have been her first choice.

“I kill people,” Clint said as matter-of-factly as anybody had ever said anything.

She giggled that annoying giggle you hated so much. 

“You’re picking on me,” she said, slapping him gently on his arm and letting it linger there. “Now be serious.”

“Oh he was being serious,” Everett said. “And she helps him,” he added with a nod in your direction.

The smile quickly faded from her face. She stared at you and you could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. She said nothing else, but got up as fast as she could and rejoined the people she came with, leading them as far from you and your group as possible. 

“I love you guys so much,” you said as best as you could while laughing your head off. “You won’t believe how happy I am that neither one of you idiots went for her.” 

Clint gave you such a serious expression that it stopped your laughter. “You’re irreplaceable,” he said. “I couldn’t go after any girl that would drive a wedge between us, no matter what the reason.” 

Then he got a sly smile before adding, “Besides she wasn’t my type, and I know for a fact she wasn’t Everett’s because-Ow!” 

You jumped in your seat when Clint howled out in pain, especially since you never saw the source of it, but only felt the movement under the table. 

“What the hell, man?” Clint asked. “Not cool.”

Everett just made a “Shut up. Stop talking now.” look before saying out loud “Why don’t we all just play a game of pool?”

“You know I’ll win. I never miss,” Clint replied.

“It’ll be fun anyway,” you said. “And since you’re so confident, it can be two against one. Loser pays for dinner on the way home.”

———————————————————————————————————

“You guys really aren’t going to talk to me, huh?” Clint asked as he stuffed the end of an egg roll in his mouth. You and Everett hadn’t spoken to him since he won the game of pool. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if he hadn’t kept rubbing it in. He was sitting in the backseat of the car digging into his free meal before he even got home.

“I didn’t think you would be childish enough to pout this long. I’m really disappointed.”

The pair of you stayed totally silent until you got home, but when you reached for the doorknob and found it unlocked, it was time to drop the game. Clint handed you the bag of food and went back to the car to get your spare handguns. Once all of you were armed, you proceeded to enter the house single file. The only intruder you found, however, was Phil Coulson sitting in the living room eating potato chips and watching tv. 

“You couldn’t announce yourself?” You asked. “We could have shot you.”

“Sorry, my mouth was full. I needed to talk to you guys, but you weren’t picking up the phone and I didn’t know where you went, so I decided to come here and wait for you to come home. It’s an emergency. We need to go in at once.”

————————————————————————————————————


	8. Chapter 8

“So now that we’re all here, will you tell us what’s happened?” You asked Coulson as you entered the Command Center. The team had upgraded twice from the tiny office you started in years ago. 

“I would, but I don’t know what it is yet either. And there will be somebody else joining us this time.”

The three of you exchanged confused looks. No one had ever joined you in your missions before. This had to mean that something very big or very bad was going on.

Just in time to confirm your suspicions, Agent Nick Fury walked through the door. You hadn’t seen very much of him since your first meeting, except for the occasional encounter in the hallway where he and his dramatic coat were hard to miss. 

“Sit down,” was the only greeting he offered. 

After you all sat down, he said, “Our research facility in Arizona was infiltrated two hours ago. As far as we can tell, they only took one thing. But that one thing was the center of everything we were working on. We were still in the early phases of development, but they took all of our blueprints. It isn’t starting over that we’re concerned with, it’s those plans in the wrong hands. We need them back now.”

“No offense, sir,” Clint began, “but isn’t this the kind of thing the Alpha team would usually handle?”

“They were handling it.” Fury answered. “They were the ones guarding the facility. You’re the best I’ve got available now.”

Somehow that wasn’t a reassuring thought. 

“Do we know who took them?” You asked. 

“We think it was the KGB. We recognized someone from the security footage. She’s known to work with them.”

“What was it that they took, exactly? The blueprints to what?” Everett asked.

“You don’t have high enough security clearance to have access to that information.”

“So how are we supposed to find something when we don’t know what we’re looking for or where it went?” Everett continued. 

You were surprised to hear him almost talking back to a senior agent. But if he was thinking what you were thinking, you’d feel a lot more comfortable knowing what you were looking for in advance. 

“I want you to catch them in transit, which means it will be the only thing on them. As to where they went, one of our agents was quick enough to slip a tracking device on his opponent during the fight. They came in small numbers and used ground transport which means they’ll have to meet up with someone else in order to get back home. I want you to cut them off before they get there. I have some rookie teams you can use for extra firepower. You’re all going out in the field on this one, so suit up and be ready to go in ten.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“What do you think?” You asked Clint as you sat down beside him in the plane. 

“It’s going to be ugly. If he’s talking about who I think he’s talking about, she’s already getting quite the reputation to be so young.”

“The redhead?” You asked, already knowing what his answer would be. The pair of you had encountered the remains of her handiwork before. From what you had heard about her, she was younger than you were and she worked like she had been raised to do it. You knew it wouldn’t be long until SHIELD sent someone to eliminate her. 

You watched as he simply nodded his head in agreement. Something about her had always bothered him, but he never said what it was and you never asked. For some reason, you felt like he would volunteer it when the time came. 

“We’ve got their location on the monitor,” Phil said. “We are going to land a couple of miles away and try to surprise them. Hopefully the darkness will give us the advantage. We’re going to start our descent now.”

Looking over at where Everett was standing a few feet away, you leaned over and asked Clint, “Do you think he’s going to be okay? It’s been a long time since he’s done anything like this.”

“You want an honest answer or one that will make you feel better?” That was your Clint. 

“The truth.”

“I don’t know. The best SHIELD had to offer failed on this one. It’s just the four of us and a bunch of rookies. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

You sighed and let your head rest on his shoulder as you felt the plane start to dip down to the ground. He wrapped his arm around you and added, “I have faith in us though. We’re good at what we do. We’ll probably kick their asses while the rest of these guys just watch, so try not to worry. Okay?” 

“Okay.”  
———————————————————————————————————————

You woke up surrounded by all white. Part of your brain wondered if this was heaven, but you were pretty sure heaven wasn’t filled with the scent of antiseptic cleaner and that annoying beeping sound coming from somewhere. Besides, if you were already dead, your right shoulder wouldn’t be hurting like hell. 

“Glad to see you’re finally awake,” you heard someone say from the far corner of the room. You slowly moved your head enough to see the person speaking, even though you would’ve recognized that voice anywhere. You were just shocked he of all people would be who you would wake up to.

“Agent Fury, sir” you mumbled. “What are you doing here? What happened?”

“How much do you remember?” He asked.

“Not much, I remember landing, and tracking them down…most of the fight is a blur though. How are Clint and Everett? What about Coulson? Was the mission successful?”

“They’re all alive. We got the blueprints back. We’ll talk details when you’re more alert,” then he turned and left the room with his coat whipping behind him.

The next time you awoke, you found Fury sitting in the same seat as before. It was really starting to feel like a case of deja vu. 

“Haven’t we done this already?” You asked, earning what might have been a chuckle.

“How are you feeling?”

“Shoulder still hurts like hell. I’m guessing I got shot?”

“You don’t remember yet?”

“There was a huge firefight. It felt like I got hit out of nowhere. Everything after that is pretty hazy. You ready to fill in the details?”

“I don’t know all the details myself. No one is talking. That’s why I’ve been keeping this room on lockdown. They put up quite a fight, but I don’t like it when everyone acts like they don’t know what happened. Call me paranoid, but it makes me think they’re keeping secrets.”

Well that explained why Fury was the only company you’d had. 

“I want to see my guys.”

Fury hesitated a moment, which sparked your suspicions. “You told me they were alright.”

“I said they were alive actually,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed. “There is something I should tell you about that though. There was an incident after they got back.”

“What happened?” You asked as you tried to sit up, but he gently pushed you back down.

“Ross and Barton tried to have a fight right in the middle of headquarters. Well, Ross attacked him first, if you want to call it that. Punched him right in the face. Would have escalated into a fight though if people hadn’t intervened. Normally, I’d let men sort a thing like this out for themselves. But there were a few dozen witnesses, and it’s a decision that’s out of my hands to make considering they weren’t private about it.”

You just stared at Fury in disbelief. What had happened out there that would cause them to blow up at each other like that? Especially Everett…he wasn’t the type to engage in a fist fight right in the middle of everything. That required a level of rashness he wasn’t normally capable of. 

“You said the decision was out of your hands? What does that mean?” You asked, suddenly feeling very frightened. 

“Agents have to be able to have a level of trust amongst each other. Barton isn’t to blame because he didn’t get a chance to do anything, but they won’t want Ross around after that.”

“You mean, you’re going to fire him?” You asked with tears starting to form in your eyes. “You can’t. The job is everything to Everett. What is he supposed to do now?”

Fury must have been moved by your crying, or perhaps he had made up his mind before he even talked to you. He patted you tenderly on the hand and said, “The decision has already been made. I can’t do anything about it. But he’s been a great agent. This incident has been the only blemish on his entire record. I could make it go away. Another agency would snatch him up in a heartbeat.”

“Thank you…for that at least,” you said, drying your eyes and turning your face from him. “What do you expect from me in return?”

“Your loyalty,” he said without hesitation. “You and Barton are two of the best operatives at my disposal. I don’t want you taking off because of this. Stay with SHIELD, and I’ll make sure your friend is taken care of in return. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“Hey, baby,” Clint said as he stood in the hospital room doorway. He looked tired, like he hadn’t gotten much sleep the past couple of days, and you noticed one of his eyes was bruised. He was carrying a bouquet of your favorite flowers, and he lingered at the door like he was waiting for an invitation to enter. 

“You going to stand there all day or you going to come visit me?” You asked, patting the bed. 

He smiled a weary, but genuine smile and made his way over to sit beside you. 

“Here you go,” he said, handing you the flowers. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. Fury must have taken me off lockdown. Guess he felt sorry for me.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Clint seemed distracted and distant. You were trying to decide whether to ask him what was wrong or wait for him to tell you when he said, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She shot you…the redhead. I had the drop on her earlier, but I couldn’t bring myself to shoot her. I’ve never had to kill a girl before. And there’s something about her…I don’t know why…but when I look at her, I can’t help but think of you. I dropped the ball by letting her go, and you had to pay the price. I should have put an arrow through her when I had the chance,” he ended bitterly.

“Clint, you showed her compassion. You let someone who barely qualifies as a young woman live. That doesn’t make you responsible for what she did.”

“It’s my job to have your back though. We’re supposed to keep each other safe,” he said while reaching up to touch his bruised eye. You had the feeling it was an involuntary action connected to the memory of what he was talking about.

“Is that why Everett hit you?” 

“Yeah, he was right to do it too. I don’t blame him. I would have done the same thing in his place.”

After a few moments of silence he added, “I’m the one who screwed up but he’s the one losing his job. Isn’t that just fantastic? I tried talking to the bosses to smooth things out, but they said it didn’t change anything.”  


“None of this is your fault, Clint. You did what felt right at the time. I wouldn’t have wanted you to act any differently. As far as I’m concerned, you and I are as good as we ever were.”

Clint smiled at you affectionately before saying, “You’re the best partner ever, you know that?”

“Yeah, I know.”

———————————————————————————————————————

Clint stayed and visited with you for a few hours before he kissed you on the forehead and told you he’d be back the following day to help you get ready to go home. Just a few minutes after he left, Everett walked through the door carrying flowers exactly like the ones your previous visitor had brought.

“I thought he’d never leave,” he said.

“How long have you been out there waiting for him to?”

He avoided your question by busying himself with adding the new bouquet to the other making for one very full vase. 

“How long are you going to stay mad at him?” You asked. “He’s been blaming himself enough as it is. You know what happened wasn’t really his fault.”

“I know,” he replied, joining you on the bed and rubbing his hands against his face in frustration. “But you don’t know how close we came to losing you. I was scared, and angry. I’m not the same kind of man that Barton is. He’s always been the tough guy who never misses a step. I didn’t worry about you out in the field as much because I felt sure nothing could happen to you with him around. But we were both there and neither of us could stop it.” 

You sat up and leaned forward until you were resting against him. “So you two are going to make up?” You asked.

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I’m not angry with him and I’m not going to try fighting him anymore, but I’ve decided that it’s best if I move out.”

“You can’t move out, Ev! I won’t let you! I don’t want you to go,” you said. For the second time in a matter of days you could feel the tears start rolling down your cheeks.

He reached out and very gently wiped them off your face with his fingertips. 

“Why are you going? Why do you want to leave us?”

“I don’t want to leave you,” he said. “And I hope we can still see each other all the time and that we won’t let anything change between us. I just have my reasons for needing to go.”

“I don’t understand this at all.” When you said it, you could hear the defeat in your own voice.

“I know you don’t. But one day you will. And when that day comes, I’ll explain everything. I promise.”


	9. Chapter 9

You and Everett did your best to keep your promise to each other. Every available chance, you made a point to spend time with him, just the two of you. That’s how it was now. All your time was split between Clint and Everett. They never made up. Whatever came to the surface during their infamous fight seemed to have driven them apart permanently. 

Things became harder after Everett joined the CIA. You had been so proud of him when he called to tell you about it. Even over the phone, you could tell how excited he was and you were truly happy for him, even though you knew it would make your friendship that much harder. It seemed like every time you were home, he was out of the country and vice versa. He was diligent in his attention to you though. He called you twice a week without fail, no matter how many years passed. 

But while your relationship with Everett stalled, you and Clint continued to grow impossibly close. Over the years, the pair of you became a legend at SHIELD. You were Fury’s most trusted and highly regarded agents, and his eventual appointment as director cemented your place in the organization’s ranks. There wasn’t a single person in all of SHIELD who didn’t know how well the two of you worked together, which meant that you were consistently partnered up for almost every assignment. Between that and your already strong friendship, Clint Barton eventually became your whole world without you even realizing it. 

And, unfortunately, it never occurred to you to question what he really meant to you until she walked into your life. 

Laura was pretty in a simple, practical way. She wasn’t a high-maintenance beauty, but she had long, dark hair and an easy smile that made her instantly likable. You had to admit that she was the type of woman that you would have picked out for him. Her gentle nature was exactly what he needed. In any other situation, you would have taken to her in a minute. But in any other situation she wouldn’t have been sitting in your house with her hand resting on his thigh. 

He had brought her here to meet you, which you felt must have meant he was serious about her. In spite of his good looks, Clint had never dated as much as people would have expected. There had been some first and second dates here and there, but he was very perceptive about people and it never took him long to figure out that someone wasn’t right for him. And due to the nature of his job, he never believed in getting into a relationship that was doomed to fail. The fact that he was sitting beside her and looking at you hopefully told you that he believed her to be “the one.”

You had exchanged pleasantries and engaged in some small talk, but you had let Clint take charge of the conversation. You just didn’t know what to say to her. Deep down, you were busy fighting the urge to rip her hand off his leg, and possibly off her own arm. His dating had never really bothered you before, and you couldn’t figure out why it was bothering you now. She seemed like a nice girl. There was no reason for your intense dislike of her.   
Your thoughts were interrupted by her saying, “Clint, honey, before we go, could I speak to y/n alone for a minute?”

Clint looked at you and you nodded your head ever so slightly.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll wait outside.”

Once you heard the door close, she said “I’ve been bugging him about my meeting you for awhile now. He talks about you all the time. I felt we should get to know each other.”

You simply kept looking at her, unsure of what to say.

“You know,” she continued, “it bothered me at first, all his talking about you. I’m sure you know what I mean. I didn’t know if I could be with someone who was so close to another woman. To put it simply, I was jealous. Then he told me about a mission you went on in Arizona. The one where you-“

“I know which one,” you said. You had only been to Arizona with Clint once. 

“He explained to me about his responsibility to you, and your responsibility to him. He said he had let you down. That’s when I began to understand.”

“Understand what?” You asked.

“That I’d never understand, not really. Even if I marry him one day, give birth to and raise his children, spend a lifetime with him, there’s a part of him I’ll never be able to relate to…but you will. You’re a very important part of his life. You’re a very important part of him. And I want you to know that I’ll never try to come between you. In fact, I hope you and I can be friends.”

She seemed sincere as best as you could tell. You weren’t sure whether what she said made you feel better or worse though. It should have made you feel better, you knew that, but somehow you were hoping she would threaten you and then you would have an excuse to get rid of her. Instead, she was being every inch the kind human being she appeared to genuinely be.

“Thank you,” was the only reply you managed. It didn’t feel like an appropriate response, but it was a safe one.

“I better go. Clint’s waiting,” she said, standing up. “I’m really glad we could talk.”

When you heard the front door shut behind her, you got up and walked over to the window and watched them leave hand in hand.

———————————————————————————————————————  
Your evening was spent sitting alone in the living room thinking about Clint and Laura. You’d never really thought about him getting married until now. As selfish as it sounded, you couldn’t help but wonder what your life would be like if he did get married. He’d move out, of course, which meant you would be living all alone for the first time since you were a teenager. But what else would change besides that? You’d have to share him with another woman. She would be his wife and the future mother of his children. She would be the one he would come home to and take in his arms. And you would be his….friend? Coworker? Clint Barton was the most important person in your life, and you would no longer be his. 

“What are you still doing up, baby?” The subject of your thoughts asked as he walked into the room. You had been so preoccupied that you hadn’t heard him come home.

“Just thinking,” you said, looking up at him and smiling slightly. You noticed that he still called you “baby.” His term of endearment had never made you feel as much as it did that night.

“While we’re on the subject, what did you think of Laura?” He asked as he sat beside you and wrapped one of his strong arms around your shoulders. You shifted your body so that your back was resting against his chest. As you concentrated on his gentle breathing and his familiar scent, you thought to yourself how right it felt being with him like that. Everything about Clint felt right. Part of you wanted to tell him she was wrong for him and that no good would come from them being together. But as you turned to look at him, you saw in his eyes how much he needed you to approve, so you did the only thing you could for the man you loved so much.

“She’s a great girl, Clint. I’m really happy for you.”


	10. Chapter 10

The champagne did little to improve your mood as you watched the groom twirl his new bride around the dance floor. Only two hours earlier, you had served as Clint’s “best man” while he married the now Mrs. Laura Barton. It was your job to always have his back, and no matter how much it pained you to do it, you weren’t going to let him down. You had stood by his side and watched as the man you loved most in the world promised to love someone else for the rest of his days. 

As you sat at the small reception, tracing the top of the champagne flute with your fingertip, you tried to keep your attention on anything but the happy couple in front of you. In the months since you’d met Laura, you still hadn’t managed to work out your feelings for your best friend. You had never really thought about the two of you being together romantically, but it also bothered you immensely to see them so in love. Even though you knew it was a bad idea, you couldn’t help but glance up at the pair of them. Your thoughts wandered to how handsome Clint looked in his tuxedo up until the moment that he pulled her close and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. With that, you gulped down the rest of your drink and managed to slip out of the party and to your car without anyone noticing. 

———————————————————————————————————————

Knocking on the apartment door, it suddenly occurred to you that it would have been wiser and more polite if you had called in advance. Before you could change your mind, however, the door opened to reveal a very familiar face. He looked slightly disheveled with his hair standing up in multiple directions and it seemed as if you had woken him from a deep sleep.

“Hey Everett,” you said, “Is this a bad time?”

“Of course not, y/n,” he said, rubbing his eyes before running his hand through his hair. “Just having a hard time adjusting to being back in this time zone. Come in,” he added, moving to give you room to enter. 

He hadn’t been living in this particular apartment long and it was your first time seeing it from the inside. It was a step up from his previous one, with lots of glass windows that gave you a view of the city at night.

“Your promotion must have come with a decent pay raise. This is a nice place,” you said. 

“Thanks. I’m glad you like it.” A few moments of silence passed before he added, “you look…wonderful. What’s the occasion?”

“A wedding,” you answered, sitting down on the couch and slipping off your heels. 

“Anyone I know?” He asked, moving to sit beside you. 

You hesitated to answer him for a variety of reasons. Firstly, no one outside of Clint’s and Laura’s families knew about the marriage except for you and Fury. It was important to Clint that it be kept a secret from the rest of SHIELD. Secondly, you weren’t sure you were ready to discuss your feelings with anyone. 

“Y/n, you okay?” Everett asked, looking at you with a concerned expression.

Finally, you decided that Everett wouldn’t spill what you told him in confidence, and if you hadn’t wanted to talk about it, you would have gone home to an empty house.

“Clint’s…it was Clint’s wedding.”

“To someone besides you?” He asked with a strange tone in his voice.

“Do I look like I’m wearing a wedding gown, Ev?” You replied with a humorless laugh. 

When you saw the look on his face, you said “I’m sorry. It’s been a weird few months.”

“It’s okay.” After awhile he added, “How do you feel about it?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never thought about Clint that way, but I can’t stand the sight of them together. When I stood up there and watched them get married, I felt more alone than I have ever felt in my life. I can’t even use the excuse of hating her, because I don’t. She really is a great girl. I don’t know if I’ve fallen in love with him, or if I’m just a selfish bitch who can’t share.”

He must not have known what to say because he simply reached over and took ahold of one of your hands. You turned to look at him and started to study his face. In the years since Everett had moved out, you hadn’t seen him as much as you would’ve liked and he had changed some from the mental image you had of him. The passing of time showed on his features, but in his case it actually suited him and made him look more attractive. As your eyes travelled up to his currently messy hair, you smiled as you noticed the increased numbers of gray strands that you had joked about so long ago.

Apparently noticing your smile, he gave you one of his own before asking “what is it?”

His smile was everything you had always remembered it to be…powerful, captivating, and easily his best feature. 

“Nothing,” you said, still staring at him. You suddenly became aware of a strange urge to be much closer to him. But before you could act on it, you were distracted by the sound of your cell phone ringing in your purse. 

“Excuse me a minute,” you said, pulling your phone out and seeing the number you knew by heart on the caller ID. 

When you flipped it open and put it to your ear, you heard your favorite words come drifting out, “Hey baby.”

“Hey Clint.”

“You okay? You took off in the middle of everything.”

“Yeah, I just felt kind of weird being there alone…you know what I mean,” you sort of lied.

“Yeah. There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you ever since Laura and I got engaged, but I never knew how to put it into words. When I looked around for you at the reception and couldn’t find you, I finally figured out what it was I needed to say: She’s never going to take your place, y/n. No one ever could. I hope you know that.”

You desperately tried to swallow your emotions before saying, “I know, Clint. You better go now. I don’t want you getting in trouble on your own honeymoon.”

“Alright, partner, I’ll see you as soon as I get back. Be good while I’m gone. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

When you hung up the phone, you were conscious of Everett watching you.

“What did he say?” He asked.

“Exactly what I needed to hear.”


	11. Chapter 11

As the morning light peaked through the windows, the first things that you became aware of were that your head was pounding and that you were wearing very little. Looking around the unfamiliar room, the memories of the previous evening began to find their way out of the haziness and into the forefront of your mind. You remembered drinking and talking with Everett late into the night. You also remembered that he was a perfect gentleman who let you have his bedroom and that your lack of clothing was simply due to the fact that you didn’t feel like finding anything to put on after stripping off your dress. 

Slowly climbing out of bed, you moved to the window and closed the blinds before finding your way to his closet to get something to wear. Dressed in a button up shirt, you went to the kitchen to find Everett making coffee and mumbling to himself with his back towards you. Standing in the doorway, you watched him for awhile without saying anything to alert him to your presence. All you heard of his conversation with himself was “No, now is a terrible time. But if I wait-“

“Is talking to yourself a requirement for the CIA or is it something you learn on the job?” You asked.

He turned around fast and you could tell you had startled him. You watched as he looked you over with an expression on his face that you couldn’t read. 

“Good morning,” was all he said in response.

“Good morning. Do you have anything for a headache?” You asked as you started plundering through the cabinets.

“Let me,” he said, moving over to you and getting a bottle out of the cabinet above your head. As he placed it in your hand, you realized how close he was standing to you and that he was still giving you that same look. The unexplainable desire to be nearer to him that you had experienced the previous evening came back as you stared into his eyes. 

Without thinking, you slipped one of your hands onto the back of his neck and pressed your lips to his. The kiss started out slowly and tentatively, but it didn’t take long until you were seated on the counter with your legs wrapped around him while he kissed you roughly. His hands trailing up the bare skin of your thighs caused you to moan softly into his mouth. But as quickly as the kiss began, it ended when he pulled back until he was several feet away. 

“What’s wrong?” You asked bewilderedly.

“I can’t,” he said with a look that told you it pained him to say it.

“Why?” You asked. “Is there someone you haven’t told me about?”

“No,” he said quickly. “I just…it’s not that I don’t want to…it’s just that, well, you came here because it pained you to watch another man get married. I want to be with you, but I need you to want to be with me, and I know that can’t happen right now.”

As you listened to him, everything finally fell into place. 

“Do you remember when you told me I would understand one day why you moved out?” You said. “I understand now. Clint is to you what Laura is to me, isn’t he?”

He simply nodded his head yes before looking away from you. 

“I never said anything because I knew how much you and Clint have always been in love so I figured there was no point.”

“What?” You asked. His words had taken you completely off-guard. You didn’t know whether to be angry or hurt that he would dare say that to you now that he knew the truth.

“The pair of you were forever blind to it. You were both so sure that it would end badly that you somehow managed to convince yourselves that you would never fall in love. All the while not seeing what everyone else saw: that you already were.”

A few moments of silence passed before he continued, “I don’t know why he married her, y/n. Knowing Barton, he probably does care about her and love her, in some capacity, and he believes that makes her right for him. She can offer him that stability and safety outside of the job that he craves so much. I’ve never seen him with her, but I’ve seen him with you, and I know that he loves you. One day he’s going to realize it. But he’s not the only man that does, and I think if you give it time, you could love me too.”

You just stared at him with tears in your eyes while you processed everything he had just said. You didn’t know how much of what he told you about Clint’s feelings was accurate, but for the first time you realized that he had been right about what you felt for Clint. Wiping your eyes, you simply said, “I don’t know what to say.”

“I don’t want you to say anything right now. Just think about it. I have to get ready to go to work.”

Then he turned and left you all alone.


	12. Chapter 12

Returning to your empty house was even more depressing than you had imagined it would be after your visit with Everett. Clint’s stuff was still just as he’d left it. Before the wedding, he and Laura had bought a cute little farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere that would serve as the home they would raise their family in. When he was working, however, he would still occupy his old room. Most wives wouldn’t trust their husbands that much, but Laura had complete faith in Clint, as she should. Cheating on his spouse is one thing he would never do. He was too up-front and honest for that. If he ever wanted out of his marriage, he would handle it the right way. 

You shook your head as if that would knock those thoughts out of your mind. You didn’t want to think about that. You didn’t want to think about anything Everett had said right now. As if on cue, your cell phone started ringing. 

Recognizing the number, you answered it saying, “Good morning, Director.”

“Good morning, y/n. Sorry if this is a bad time,” Did Nick Fury just apologize? You decided you must have truly lost your mind and had started hallucinating, “but I need you to come in.”

“I’ll be right there.”

—————————————-

“If you want, I can call in Agent Barton to go with you-“

“No,” you said, not looking up from the file you were flipping through. “Let him enjoy his honeymoon. Besides, I want to do this one alone.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Fury asked. “I trust your judgment, but if you’ve got a personal grudge it can get in the way and mess with your head. Believe me.”

“This isn’t about getting even. This about making something right. Just remember what you said about trusting my judgment.”

——————————————-

It had taken you days to find your mark, and neutralizing the situation proved just as hard as you had imagined it would be. Nevertheless, you now stood with your gun pointed at her head. Her attractive face was bloodied from the fight, as yours probably was too, and her vibrant red hair was a total mess. 

“If you’re going to do it, go ahead. Unless you don’t have the guts for it,” she spat.

“Believe me, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve done this. Having the guts for it isn’t the problem. The problem is I don’t know if you could ever be trusted or not, but I’m hoping you can be.”

As you cautiously lowered your gun enough to ease the tension, you watched as her brows furrowed in confusion. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“You ever thought about switching sides? SHIELD could use someone like you. I’m giving you a choice: die right here right now, or come back and work for us. It’s up to you.”

“You’d let me live? Why?” 

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business. But, as a good faith gesture, I’ll share. Years ago, my partner spared your life and you thanked him by shooting me. I don’t know how much you know or care about loyalty, but he’s carried the guilt of that around ever since. Nothing would give him more pleasure than to kill you himself, but that wouldn’t fix what’s bothering him. Seeing that you could turn into something that was worth saving would. Like I said, the choice is yours.” 

She stayed silent for a few minutes, obviously trying to deduce if this was some kind of trick, but you also saw something else on her features as you studied her. It might have been the very beginnings of an emotion resembling gratitude. It would take time to see whether or not you were right about that. 

“I accept,” she said. 

“Alright,” you replied while holstering your gun. You knew it was risky, but it was a symbol of trust. 

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Y/n. Only name I know you by is the Black Widow and that’s going to get old fast.” 

“Natasha. Call me Natasha.”

——————————————————

“Where the hell is she?!” you heard Clint yell as he slammed open the door to Fury’s office. It was the first time you had seen him since the wedding and you were trying to ignore the rush of emotions that were making your chest ache. 

“Where is the Black Widow? Why is she alive?” he asked. You weren’t sure if the questioning was directed at you or Fury, but for the moment you were more than willing to let Fury take the lead. 

“Ask your partner. She’s the one who decided to ignore my orders and recruit her instead.”

Thanks a lot, Nick.

Clint’s expression softened as he walked over to you. His eyes were locked on your face and it made a chill run down your spine. Even though it made you feel ashamed, you couldn’t resist the urge to avert your gaze. 

“What happened?” Clint asked you with a much gentler tone than he had when he’d entered the office. “Why didn’t you call me in?” 

“You were on your honeymoon, and I knew you’d want to kill her. I want her to live, Clint.”

“She can’t be trusted, baby,” he said as he squatted down in front of the chair you were sitting in. 

Forcing yourself to look at him, you felt yourself getting lost in his eyes. They were filled with a tender affection and concern that made you melt. You wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch him, to make that comfortable connection that made everything feel right.

“I know she can’t be, at least not right now. But she hasn’t had an opportunity to prove herself yet. I think she’ll come through in the end. I know this will be hard for you, but I really want to give her a chance. Are you going to be able to back me up on this?”

He smiled at you and said, “Always.” 

It was in that moment that you knew you had to choose your course of action for dealing with your feelings for Clint. You could either decide that you couldn’t live with your jealousy and end up pushing him out of your life, or you could love him enough to always be there for him no matter what.

There was no doubt about which one you were going to choose. 

You wrapped your arms tightly around his neck and whispered, “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

———————————————-

Eventually Natasha proved your intuition to be spot on. Of course, her loyalty was originally born out of necessity, but in time she began to genuinely care for you and for the first time in your life you knew what it felt like to have a sister. It took much longer for Clint to warm up to her, though. He demonstrated how talented he was at holding a grudge, but at some point she managed to win his trust and friendship as well.

As the years passed, you never failed to keep your promise to yourself about Clint. You did everything you could to always be there for him. You forced yourself to become friends with Laura, you were there for the births of his children, and as they got older you became “cool Aunt Y/n” who visited them regularly. You truly loved his children, and even though you loved them equally, you couldn’t help but be closer to his son. The son whose middle name was the male version of your first. The son who reminded you so much of his father that, at times, you could almost delude yourself into believing he was yours and Clint’s. 

When Loki came to Earth and took control of Clint’s mind, you were the first person to sign up for the Avengers. You fought with them in the Battle of New York and you made sure he made it safely back home. 

As shocking and devastating as those events were, it wasn’t until the fall of SHIELD that you really began to feel the drastic changes that were taking place in your life. The loss of the organization that you had dedicated your whole life to left an enormous hole that would need filling. 

Now, as you helped your injured former boss out of the car so he could go look at his tombstone, you couldn’t stop wondering where you would go from here. Your thoughts drifted to Everett and how he’d had to change jobs years ago. He had adjusted wonderfully and advanced up the ranks, just like you always knew he would. 

At least, you assumed he was still doing well. You hadn’t seen or talked to him as much since that morning at his apartment. You weren’t really avoiding him; you just didn’t know where the two of you now stood. He was in love with you, and you were still in love with someone else. There were times when you wondered if you should try to pursue a relationship with him in spite of your feelings for Clint. Everett was a good man and a good friend who you had always cared about, but you always talked yourself out of it because you knew he deserved to be with someone who wanted him and only him. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Steve Rogers and his friend Sam. Even though you had known Steve for awhile now, you couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at the sight of him. 

“Hello, Captain,” you said shyly. 

“Ma’am,” he said with a smile. “Sir,” he added with a nod to Fury. 

Across the cemetery, you saw a head full of bright red hair that you would recognize anywhere. 

“Excuse me,” you said, leaving the men behind to talk amongst themselves. 

“Are you really leaving?” You asked once you reached her.

“Not forever, I’ve just got to sort through some things. Figure out where to go from here. I’m sure you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know. Just make sure you come back, okay? I’ve gotten rather used to having you around.”

“I’d get bored if I stayed away from you too long. So what are you going to do now? What about Barton?”

“I don’t know.”

After a few moments of silence, you asked, “What’s in the file?” Indicating the one she was holding in her hand.

“A favor for Rogers. You know…he could use some help with this. It isn’t a paying job, but it’ll keep you busy. Besides, with Fury out of the picture, you’ll be looking for a new leader. The captain is about the best one you could ever pick.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

You moved forward and pulled her into a tight embrace which she returned. 

“Take care of yourself,” you said while still holding her. “If you need me, all you’ve got to do is call.”

“Same goes for you, y/n,” she replied before placing a kiss on your cheek. 

When you parted, she said, “I’m going to go talk to Rogers, you coming?”

“I’ll catch up with him later. Goodbye, Nat,” you answered, taking her free hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. 

You watched as she and Fury traded places. 

“Ready to go?” He asked you.

“Do you think you could make it by yourself? I need to talk to somebody about a job.”


	13. Chapter 13

“Hey, y/n, we’re here!” You heard Steve yell from the living room.

“I’m running behind this morning! I’ll just be another couple of minutes!” You replied through the tiny opening in your bedroom door. 

“Take your time.” 

Ever since that day in the cemetery, your daily routine had consisted of Steve and Sam coming over to your house which served as the command center in the search for one James Buchanan Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier. Your living room was covered with maps, photographs, and file folders related to possible leads as to his whereabouts. So far, all of them had been dead ends. 

Once you were dressed, you walked down the hall to find Steve grabbing the familiar take out cup of coffee and small bag that you knew would contain your favorite breakfast pastry. You had never met anyone so consistently considerate.

“Thanks,” you said, grabbing both and offering him a smile.

“Anytime.” 

Sam was already flipping through a stack of papers when you joined him on the couch. 

“Have we got anything new?” You asked.

“Nothing tangible. Some reports of a guy sort of matching his description coming out of New York, but that’s about it.” 

The sound of Steve’s cell phone ringing interrupted your conversation. 

“Hello, Stark,” You heard him say before he walked into the kitchen to continue his phone call in private. 

“Y/n, you mind if I use your bathroom?” Sam asked.

“Of course not, there’s a guest one right down the hall on your left.” 

While you were alone, you used the time to flip through the papers that Sam had left behind. You had been so grateful for the opportunity to help them with this. Not only was it a productive way to fill your time after losing your job, but it meant a great deal that you got to work with and get to know the man who had always been a hero to you. 

“Y/n, we have to talk,” Steve said as he came back from the kitchen.

“What’s up?”

“That was Stark. He said there’s been new intel about some secret HYDRA bases located around the world that survived after the fall of SHIELD. He wants to get the team back together to take them out.” 

“Are you going to do it?” You asked, even though you felt you already knew the answer. 

“Yes.” 

“Then I’m in too. I’ll call Natasha, and I’ll talk to Clint.” 

“Okay, I’ve got two questions,” Sam said, coming back into the living room, apparently oblivious to the ongoing conversation. “Whose man cave is that down there? And why do you have a Captain America poster?”

“Been snooping have we, Sam?” You replied with a smirk.

“We’re getting the Avengers back together,” Steve said to Sam, “do you want to come with us?” 

“Nah, your world is too crazy. Besides, somebody needs to stay on this.” 

“When did he want us in New York?” you asked.

“As soon as possible. Would today be too early?” 

“No, I’m used to having to drop everything and go. Just give me time to pack. Pick you up in a hour?” 

“I’ll be ready,” he said. 

———————————————

“So I called Clint and Natasha and they’re both coming in,” You said, looking at Steve from the driver’s seat. He had decided to leave his bike at his apartment and ride with you since he had his luggage with him. This was the first time the two of you had been alone for more than a few minutes and you weren’t really sure what to talk about. 

“Good,” was his only response.

You drove in silence for awhile before he asked, “Why did it matter if I was in or not?”

“Sorry?” 

“You made it sound like your answer depended on mine, I was just wondering why.”

“Steve, I have always been, and I guess I always will be, a field agent at heart. I’m used to taking orders and having someone to follow and believe in. That person used to be Nick Fury. Now it’s you.” 

You looked at him and smiled before adding, “You’re a good man, Captain. I’ll follow you anywhere.” 

“In that case, would you do me a favor? Would you get rid of that poster Sam was talking about? They’re so embarrassing,” he said with a chuckle.

“Not on your life. That’s an original. You’ve got no idea how much it’s worth. Actually, if I could get an autograph...” you said, earning more laughter from the man in the passenger seat.

Once he stopped, he asked, “Speaking of Sam, and if it’s none of my business you don’t have to tell me, but where is the boyfriend who belongs to that stuff in your place and why haven’t we met him yet?” 

“It’s Clint’s.”

“I had guessed that,” he said with a knowing smile.

“Not like that,” you said quickly. “We aren’t a couple...we aren’t.” 

“Okay,” he said gently, “whatever you say.”

——————————

 

The missions went like clockwork up until the last one. The one where Clint got injured, but even it was successful. You were now sitting with him, vaguely listening to the doctor talk while she patched him up. 

“Your girlfriend here won’t be able to notice any difference,” you heard her say. Snapping your eyes up, you saw that she was looking directly at you. Suddenly, you became aware of the fact that you had been letting your hand rest on his the entire time. You snatched it back and felt your face grow hot with embarrassment. 

“I’m not his girlfriend,” you said. Feeling very uncomfortable with the current situation, you mumbled “excuse me” and left the room in a hurry. 

On your way to your bedroom, Natasha grabbed you by the arm. 

“Hey, what are you wearing to that party Stark is throwing?” She asked.

“Huh? Oh, I hadn’t really thought about it yet. I didn’t bring any dresses with me. Parties weren’t really on my mind when I was packing.”

“Same here. Let’s go shopping. Y/n, are you okay?”

You and Natasha had never really talked about your feelings for Clint out loud, but at some point she had figured things out for herself. 

“Yeah, it’s just that unspoken thing,” you said, knowing she would understand what you meant.

She gave you a momentarily sad look, but it lasted only an instant before she perked up. 

“Yes, we definitely need to go shopping. We can get our nails and hair done too, if you want. We’ll make a whole day of it,” she rambled, linking her arm with yours and leading you to your bedroom. 

You knew the complete change in attitude was for your benefit. She wasn’t the type to let you dwell on what was bothering you. She left you at your door with orders to get dressed and meet her at the elevator in twenty minutes. 

You managed it in fifteen and beat her there. As you waited around, Tony wandered up to you and said, “I hear you two are going to have a girls’ day.” 

“Yep, we’ve got to get ready for that party you’re throwing. I didn’t think I’d need a dress to go infiltrating HYDRA bases so I left them all at home.”

“Understandable. Make sure you get something nice.”

“Oh, I will. I’m not sure why, though. Is there going to be anyone there besides us on such short notice?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve invited tons of people. You’re free to invite whoever you want, too.”

“Let’s go!” Natasha said as she joined you. 

“Be good while we’re gone, Tony,” you said.

“I can’t make any promises,” he replied with a wink. 

————————————————————————

“What do you think of this one?” Natasha asked as she came out of the dressing room. 

“It looks stunning on you, just like the last three, so why don’t you like any of them?” You asked as you kept picking out possibles for yourself.

“I want it to be perfect,” she said as she turned around in front of the mirror to see it from every angle.

“For Bruce?” You asked with a sly smirk.

“Possibly.”

She walked over to look through the ones you had picked out. 

“This one,” she said. “Trust me.”

When you came out of the dressing room with it on, she whistled. 

“I told you it would look gorgeous on you. You’ll turn so many heads. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that it happens to be somebody’s favorite color.”

“Nat,” you gently warned.

“Are we ever going to talk about it? It might help. You know I’m only asking because I love you.”

“I know, and we will, just not right now. Right now is supposed to be fun.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a smile.

After you had moved on to shoes, you asked her, “Are you inviting anyone to the party tonight?”

“Who would I invite who isn’t going to be there already? What about you?”

“I was thinking about it.”

For some reason, ever since Tony had mentioned it, you had been thinking about inviting Everett. You didn’t know if he was even in the country right now, and it had been ages since you last saw him so he might not want to come. You had pulled out your cell several times to text him but kept changing your mind.

“Anybody I know?” She asked.

“No.”

“What’s holding you back?” 

“It’s a long story.” When you saw her mouth open, you added, “One that can wait until another time.”

“You’re no fun sometimes. You should go ahead and invite them, though, if you want my opinion.”

As she got up and went to the register, you pulled out your phone and sent him a text: “You want to come to a party at Avengers Tower tonight at 8?”

After a few moments, you heard a ding and saw his reply: “Love to. I’ll be there.”

——————————————————-

You were in your bedroom doing a last minute check of your hair and makeup when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” you said.

You heard the sound of the door opening followed by a whistle. 

“Wow, don’t you look great? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in a dress,” Clint said as he leaned against the doorframe. You couldn’t help but notice how handsome he looked standing there like that.

“Thanks. You clean up pretty good yourself...for an old man,” you joked. 

“Speaking of which, I came to ask...do you mind escorting an injured old man to the party, or will it cramp your style?”

“I’d consider it an honor,” you answered with a curtsy. “How are you feeling by the way?”

“I’ll live. You ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

The pair of you walked towards the party, but stopped shortly before you arrived. From where you were standing, you could hear music and the sounds of happy voices. 

“Can we talk for a minute before we get there?” Clint asked.

“Of course.”

“What are you going to do now that this is all over and there are no more HYDRA bases to shut down?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess I’ll have to see what happens. You going home for good this time?”

“Yeah…you know, before Stark called us in, I was really missing you...we all were. You need to come to the house.” 

“I missed you, too, and I promise I’ll drop by soon. I was enjoying helping Steve, though. I’ll probably go back to that, at least for awhile. 

“Were you making any progress?”

“No, not really.”

“Enjoyed it anyway, huh? Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You did say he was the love of your life once.”

You laughed at the memory. “That was a long time ago.”

“Meeting the real thing ruined the fantasy?” He asked with a smirk.

“He’s every inch the man I always imagined he’d be, but I don’t feel that way about him.”

“Would you think badly of me if I said I was glad?”

You gave him a surprised look. Before you could ask, he said, “Don’t get me wrong, Cap is great and he’d treat you right, but as childish as it might sound I don’t like the idea of not being your best guy anymore. Besides, no man is ever going to be good enough for you in my opinion.”

Although your brain told you it was wrong, your stomach couldn’t control the butterflies that were fluttering around. 

“If you’re done talking shit,” you said, trying to joke off what you were feeling, “we’ll join that party now.”

——————————————————————

Once you got to the party, you separated from Clint and started making the rounds and speaking to everyone you knew. While you and Sam were catching up, you felt a hand on your back. 

“Long time, no see,” a voice said over your shoulder. You turned to find Everett standing there smiling at you. His outfit was a combination of casual and stylish and it suited him well. As you looked at him, you suddenly realized you didn’t know how to act around him now. 

“Hey,” was all you managed. You watched as he took the initiative to introduce himself to Sam. 

“Would you like to dance?” He asked. 

Looking around, you saw that no one was dancing. “No one is dancing. We’d look dumb.”

“There’s music,” he said, taking you by the hand. “Maybe they just need somebody to get them started.”

He placed his other hand on your waist and started leading you in rhythm with the song. 

“How have you been?” He asked.

“Busy…fighting aliens, crashing helicarriers, tearing down organizations…keeps a girl busy.”

“I can imagine. I’ve missed you. You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” you said with a blush.

“I was afraid you were avoiding me because of what we talked about that day.”

“To be honest with you, I sort of was, but not for the reason you think.”

He slowed your dancing down in response.

“You’ve always been one of the most important people in my life, Ev. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like that wasn’t true. I’ve thought about what you said plenty of times, and there were moments when I thought about taking you up on your offer. But every time I decided that you deserved a woman who wasn’t in love with anyone but you, and that isn’t me. The only way it might work between us would be if I cut Clint out of my life completely, and I can’t do that. If nothing else, he and I will always need each other as friends. I won’t give that up.”

“Did you ever think that if you gave us time together, the love you feel for him might change? That he could go back to just being your best friend, and you and I could be happy?”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it.”

“I’m not giving up on you,” he said with a small smile.

“Hey, beautiful, mind if I buy you a drink?” You heard Natasha’s voice ask.

You pulled away from Everett so that you could introduce the two of them. 

“It’s nice meeting you,” she said. “I was serious, by the way,” she directed to you. “I’m stealing you away for that drink.”

Then she slipped her hand in yours and led you towards the bar. 

“I think it’s time we had that conversation,” she said as she started mixing drinks for the two of you.

“Shouldn’t you be dealing with your own man problems?”

“Mine are simple compared to yours. I like him. I think he likes me. He’ll try to convince me that we can’t be together because of his condition. Hopefully, I’ll convince him he’s wrong. You on the other hand…I don’t know where to begin.”

“Clint is in love with Laura. I’m in love with Clint. Everett is in love with me. That about wraps it up.”

“Just because you can sum it up in under a minute doesn’t make it any less complicated. Now, drink your drink and give me real details.”

———————————————-

“So, that’s all of it,” you said after you had given her the fast version. 

She downed the third round of drinks and fixed her stare back on you. 

“I have two hypothetical questions I need to ask to put all of this into perspective,” she said. “Question #1: If Clint wasn’t in the picture, say you had never met him, would you go out with this other guy?” 

“I’m not good at hypotheticals, but yes, I suppose so.” 

“Question #2: If Clint and Laura broke up, for whatever reason, and he decided he wanted to be with you, would you?”

“That’s never going to happen.” 

“That’s not important to the question.” 

“But it’s important to me! I can’t think about stuff like that. They’re working on child number three right now. It’s never going to happen, and it would terrible of me to hope that it would.” 

“It would be terrible of you to purposely try to break them up. Marriages don’t work out for a lot of reasons. Laura has talked to me about it before. All of this...the job...is starting to get to her. She doesn’t show it to him, and she’s still supportive, but he keeps promising to retire and it never happens. I get the feeling that the day is going to come when he says “just one more fight,” and it will already have been one fight too many.”

You sat in silence and worked on your drink. 

“I really brought the mood of this party down, didn’t I?” She said with a small chuckle.

“Just a bit, but to answer your earlier question...yes.” 

“In that case, you’re just torn between two men and I’m afraid I don’t know how to help.” 

“A refill always helps,” you said, passing her your now empty glass. 

As she started mixing you both up another round, she asked, “So what’s going on over there?” 

You turned around to see Clint and Everett standing a few feet away and it looked like they were arguing about something. 

“Give me a minute,” you mumbled. 

When you got over to the pair of them, you asked, “What’s going on?” 

“I was asking him what he was doing here uninvited and he told me it was none of my business,” Clint said. 

“Well it isn’t any of your business, Barton.”

“I invited him, Clint,” you cut in. “How long are you going to keep this thing alive? That fight you had was years ago. The source of it is standing over there fixing me a drink. She’s like my sister now. If she and I can get past her shooting me, then you two can get over a little punch in the face.” 

“It wasn’t a ‘little’ punch,” Everett mumbled.

“I’ve had a lot worse,” Clint said. 

“Will you two just shake and make up?” 

You watched as they reluctantly shook hands and exchanged forced pleasantries. 

“Alright, then. Let me get both of you a drink.” 

Natasha was still behind the bar so she asked what they wanted and fixed it for them. Then the four of you stood around awkwardly. Clint and Everett both looked grumpy, but Natasha had a sly smile on her face.

“You guys look like you’re having fun,” Steve said as he joined you. 

“Everett, I’m sure you know Steve Rogers. Steve, this is my old friend Everett Ross.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Steve said with grin.

“Likewise,” Everett mumbled.

You noticed Steve giving you a look that said “What’s going on? Is everything okay?” So you smiled and nodded at him. 

“Actually,” Everett spoke up, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to be leaving. I know I didn’t get to stay long, but I’m flying out tomorrow.” 

“Where to?” you asked. 

“Germany. I’ve been promoted to Deputy Commander of the Joint Counterterrorism Task Force.”

“Oh, Ev, that’s wonderful. Congratulations!” 

“Thank you. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about it but,” he said glancing at Clint, “maybe now isn’t the best time. Would you consider walking with me as far as the elevator?” 

“Sure,” you said, taking the arm that was offered to you. 

When you got to the elevator, you asked, “So what did you want to talk to me about?” 

“It should probably wait until I get settled in over there. I’ll call you.” 

The two of you just stared at each other in silence for a few moments until the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

“It was really great seeing you, Ev. I mean it.”

“If you’re ever in Germany, be sure to drop by.” 

Everett reached up and cupped your cheek with his hand before leaning forward and giving you a kiss on the lips. You’d be lying to yourself if you said it didn’t feel good. When he parted, he quickly hopped in between the doors before they could close.

And just like that...he was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

“Y/n, baby, are you okay? Come back to me,” you heard a familiar voice say.

Through the haziness, you became aware of a pair of strong hands cradling your head. Blinking your eyes repeatedly, the blur of Clint’s face started to come into focus. But was he real this time or was he still part of the witch’s illusion? 

“Clint,” you muttered. “Are you real?”

“Of course I’m real. Let’s get you up.”

He pulled you up off the ground and wrapped an arm around you to help support your weight. Your knees felt weak and you weren’t sure you would have been able to stay upright without him.

“Here, sit down,” he said, gently pushing you down. You slowly became aware of the fact that you were back on the Quinjet. 

“I’ve got to go back for the rest of them. Stay here.”

Once he was gone, you lay down on the seat, curled up in a ball, and slowly drifted out of consciousness. 

When you awoke, you looked around at the other members of the team and saw that she had gotten more of them than she had missed. Your eyes fell on Steve to find him intently staring at you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable. You didn’t know if it was a side effect of her magic or not, but you felt like he could see straight through you and knew all of your most personal secrets. The rest of the flight was spent looking at your knees in an effort to avoid his gaze.

After the plane landed, Clint came over to you and helped you up. 

“Where are we?” You asked.

“It’s okay. We’re home.”

You felt a rush of panic shoot through your body. You couldn’t go in there, not yet. He must have felt your resistance because he asked, “What’s wrong?” 

“I can’t,” you muttered. From the expression on his face, you realized that you probably sounded crazy so you added, “I don’t want the kids seeing me like this. Give me a minute to calm down. Please.” 

“I’ll stay with her,” Steve said. “You can help Romanoff get inside. She looks like she needs a hand.” 

Clint lingered for a moment looking at Steve, but then he nodded and moved over to Natasha and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 

You sat back down on the bench and Steve joined you. Once everyone else was gone, you thanked him. 

“You’re welcome.” 

The two of you sat in silence for a long time before he finally said, “It was 1945 and I was with Peggy again. She told me the war was over and we could go home. We were going to have that dance I promised her, but she vanished into thin air. I lost her all over again.”

You looked at Steve to find him staring at the opposite wall of the Quinjet, although you were pretty sure he was really looking a lot farther off than that. 

“I wouldn’t tell anybody else on the team that, but I had a feeling you’d get it. I think you and I both know a lot about longing for something out of reach.” 

He turned to you and the previous feeling of discomfort was gone. His eyes were gentle and full of understanding as he studied your face. 

“What are we going to find in there that you aren’t up to facing?” 

Instead of answering him directly, you said, “I’ve always assumed my life turned out the way it has because that’s how it was meant to be. That all the things I’ve wanted just weren’t in the cards for me. She showed me I was wrong. I could have had it all, if I’d only fought for it when I had the chance.”

Steve reached over and took your hand in his. You couldn’t help but marvel at how small yours was in comparison.

“You remember when you told me you would follow me into any fight? Well, that goes both ways. You’re my friend, and I’ll never let you go into one without me.”

“Then I guess there’s no point in putting this off any longer.”

—————————————————

You were upstairs in the guest room that practically had your name on it towel-drying your hair when there was a knock at the door. 

“May I come in?” You heard Laura ask. 

“Yeah.”

She came in and made her way over to the bed to sit down.

“Sorry, the little guy is getting kind of heavy in there. Can’t stand up as long at a time now.”

“How are you and Nathaniel doing?” 

“I’m fine. The doctor says he’s as healthy as he can be. How are you? Clint told me what happened.”

“I’m okay,” you replied, suddenly busying yourself with getting out something to wear. 

“He’s going to go along on this fight,” she said after awhile. “The team seems to need him, which is kind of scary considering…but what I’m trying to ask is, will they have his back when he needs them to?”

“You know Nat and I will, and the rest of them are good guys. We won’t let anything happen to him. I promise.”

“I wish he wouldn’t go, but I won’t try to stop him,” she said, rubbing her belly. “Y/n, may I ask a favor? Would you talk to him?”

“You want me to ask him to quit?”

“Yes…after this battle is done.”

“I don’t know if I can do that. I’m not sure it’s my place to.”

“You love him, don’t you?” She asked. Before you could say anything, she continued, “There’s no point in denying it. I figured it out a long time ago.”

You stared at her not knowing what to say. If she knew, did that mean that he did too?

As if she could read your mind, she said, “He doesn’t know. Clint is a bit dense about such things.”

“Do you want me to leave?” You finally asked.

“No, of course not. You’ve always taken care of him in an area of his life that I can’t. You made sure my husband and the father of my children always came back to us alive. You love them, and you’ve even managed to be a friend to me. I’m only asking you to do this because I know he’ll listen to you. How many more fights does he have in him before it’s too late? He’s not a super soldier, or a god, or a genius in a nearly indestructible metal suit; he’s a man in his forties with a bow and arrows. Please, for his sake, talk to him.”

“Alright, I will.”

You saw the relief wash over her face as she looked up at you. 

“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll let you get dressed now.”

——————————————————

Once you were all suited up for the battle with Ultron, you went to find Clint. You found him sitting on a bench looking at the picture of Laura and the kids that he kept with him at all times. You walked over and sat down beside him. 

“Everything is going to be fine,” you said.

“I don’t know this time, y/n. Some of us might not make it back from this one.”

“We will. I know we will.”

You leaned over and rested your head on his shoulder. “We’ll make it through, Clint. Then you’ll go home to your family and you won’t have to mess with all this nonsense.”

“You trying to get rid of me, baby? Do you think you don’t need me anymore?”

“I’ll always need you, Clint. More than you’ll ever know. But that doesn’t mean you have to come rushing in to join every fight that takes place. After Sokovia, go home. Watch your kids grow up. Don’t miss a single moment of it.”

“Y/n, are you crying?”

His question made you aware of the tear running down your cheek. You quickly rubbed it away before saying, “Of course not.”

“Did Laura ask you to talk to me about this?”

“Does it matter? She’s right. Get out while you can. I don’t want to say this, but I don’t know how much longer she can put up with you being on the job. She doesn’t like sitting around the house worrying that you aren’t going to make it back.”

“I know, but what am I supposed to do if you get yourself in trouble? We have a responsibility to each other.”

“You’re going to have to learn to trust someone else to have my back. I’ll still have Natasha and Steve. To be honest, I don’t want to have to worry about you either. I’d like knowing that the most dangerous thing you’re doing is working on a tractor engine.”

He wrapped his arm around you and pulled you close. “Alright, if I make it through this fight I’ll go home. I’m not sure I can promise that I won’t show up if I think you need me, but I’ll do my best to turn into a boring old man, okay?”

“Okay.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I took this chapter in a slightly different direction and decided to use it to show the depth of the bond between the reader and Steve. They’ve both experienced, in their own ways, the pain of not being with the person they love and trying to deal with that. I think part of Steve would encourage her to try to be with Everett and have a happy life, but at the same time he’d hate to lose the support of a good friend when he needs her most. And the Avengers are the closest thing the reader has to a family, so it would be difficult to part ways with them, even if it turns out to be in her best interest long-term.

Even though Clint went home like he promised he would, you stayed an active member of the Avengers up until the issuance of the Sokovia Accords. In all honesty, you weren’t sure how you felt about the Accords. You simply refused to sign them because your loyalty was to your captain, not to a bunch of politicians who didn’t have the first clue what all of you had sacrificed. 

Your devotion to Steve was the same reason why you now found yourself riding in a government vehicle under arrest for obstruction of justice. Once you reached your destination, you got out of the car after your friends and lingered behind them. You were too distracted by the sight of the glass prison containing Bucky Barnes being unloaded to focus on anything else going on around you, until the sound of someone saying your name caught your attention. You peered past the towering frames of Steve, Sam, and the new King of Wakanda to see none other than Everett standing there across the room. Pushing between them, you started making your way over to him when the two armed officers on either side moved forward.

“Oh, stand down both of you!” he said, walking forward to meet you halfway. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine.”

Addressing everyone he said, “Come this way.”

He led you all down a hallway, and after sending T’Challa to an office and leaving Steve and Sam with Tony, he put his hand on your upper arm and said, “Come with me.”

He guided you to his office and, once you were inside, shut the door behind him. Wandering over to his desk, you picked up a framed picture that was sitting on the corner of it. You smiled when you saw that it was of the two of you.

“I always liked this picture,” you said. He walked over and took it out of your hand before laying it face down on the desk. 

“Have a seat, please,” he said, motioning to the chair across from him while he sat down behind his desk. 

Once you had settled in, he said, “Do you have any idea how much trouble you could be in for what you and your friends have done? Why did you even get involved?”

“Bucky is important to Steve. I wanted to help. Besides, I kind of know what he’s going through.”

Everett’s raised eyebrows spoke for themselves. 

“When Loki took control of Clint’s mind, he used him against his fellow agents. He knows that he didn’t have a choice, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t carry the weight of it around with him. Clint was at least lucky enough to have people who supported him and understood. Barnes doesn’t have that.”

“Where is Barton? I was surprised he wasn’t brought in with the rest of you.”

“Clint retired after Sokovia. He’s spending all his time being a good husband and father.” 

He stared at you for a few moments before he reached down and you heard the sound of one of his desk drawers opening and then closing again. 

“Stark is down the hall trying to convince Rogers to sign the Accords. It will make everything he did legal. This is my version of the same offer to you.”

He handed you a file folder and, when you opened it, you saw that it wasn’t a copy of the Accords inside. 

“This is a new hire folder,” you said, making it actually sound more like a question than a statement. 

“Yes, it is. This is what I was going to talk to you about that last night in New York before I changed my mind. I decided it would be better if I came over here and settled in first. I thought, by that time, the Avengers would have spilt up again and you’d be in need of a real job. I had no idea you all would stick together this long. But, nevertheless, here we are.”

You flipped through the file in silence before he continued, “I have the authority to choose my own people, and with my support we can smooth out what you’ve done so far. But only what you’ve done so far. If you get much deeper into this mess then I’m afraid it’s out of my hands. You don’t have a team anymore, y/n. I’m asking you to join mine.” 

“Can I have a little bit of time to think about it?”

“What’s there to think about?” he asked, standing up and sighing loudly out of frustration.

“I need to talk to Steve first.” 

“You need to talk to Steve first!” he said while giving you an incredulous look. “What does he have to do with anything? Is he going to support you now? Tell me he isn’t the reason you didn’t stay on to begin with.”

“I would expect you of all people to understand, Everett.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked in an annoyed tone. 

“It means,” you said, jumping up and raising your voice, “that you want me to be a part of your team. Well I don’t know how you define a team around here, but for me it means loyalty and devotion...not letting your friend go into a fight without you. Steve has been there for me when I needed him, and now he needs me. I won’t switch sides in the middle of the battle to save my own skin. I’ll stand by him and see this thing through. You’ve already got Barnes in a cage. You won. At least let me do this the right way.” 

When you were done, Everett gave you a small smile and said, “I forgot what working with you was like. I’ve missed it. Do what you need to do. Talk to him or whatever. When you’re ready, this will be waiting for you.” 

You watched as he put the folder back in his desk drawer. 

“Thank you. I have every intention of taking you up on that offer,” you said.

“I know you do.”

The sound of the door opening made you turn around to see another agent. 

“Sir,” he began, “the psychiatrist is here. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Go ahead and take him down. We might as well get started.” 

————————-

“Since you didn’t sign, I can’t let you in to hear the interview,” Everett said, motioning to the door of the glassed-in room that sat behind their control room. Seeing Steve and Sam waiting around inside, you smiled and replied, “This is where I need to be anyway right now.” 

Everett simply nodded in response, then he turned and left to go join the rest of his people. You entered the room and walked over to where Sam was sitting, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m glad to see they didn’t shoot you guys and dump your bodies in a hole somewhere,” you joked. 

“Could say the same thing about you. We were starting to worry,” Sam said.

“Just catching up with an old friend,” you muttered as you walked over to where Steve was standing with his arms folded over his chest staring into the control room.

“Tony didn’t get you to sign?” You asked quietly, even though you already knew the answer. 

“No. What about him?” he asked, motioning to Everett. 

You peeped over your shoulder at Sam. Even though he was your friend and you trusted him with your life, this seemed private for some reason.

Dropping your voice even lower, you said, “He offered me a job. I told him I couldn’t accept right now, but maybe in the future.” 

“It would be a good opportunity for you.” 

“You trying to get rid of me, Cap?” 

He chuckled and it was the first time you’d seen him do it since he’d gotten the text about Peggy’s death. 

“Not a chance. I’d keep you with us forever,” he said with a smile. “But, what we talked about that day on the Quinjet...well this might not be the everything you had planned on, but it could still turn out to be everything you wanted.” 

When he turned to look at you, you saw in his eyes all the things he wasn’t saying out loud. Today he had buried the woman that, at one point, he had thought he’d spend the rest of his life with, and there were still a lot of years left to fill without her. Although you and Steve had never discussed details, you both always seemed to know where the other was coming from, and he was telling you to take a chance. 

Your conversation was interrupted by Sharon Carter entering the room. You weren’t sure why, but there was something about her that you didn’t trust. She had given Steve the information about Bucky’s whereabouts, which should have proven her loyalty to him, but you still couldn’t shake your concerns. 

She walked over and pressed a button that turned on the video and audio of Barnes’ interview, even though the three of you weren’t supposed to have been granted access to it. You studied Steve’s face as he watched and listened to Bucky on the screen. Your eyes flashed away to the control room long enough to make contact with Natasha’s. You hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her since the funeral, but you could tell from the look on her face that she was concerned about Steve, too. She was probably worried he’d do something else that he shouldn’t that would cause more trouble. The thought occurred to you that this was the first time since you had recruited her that anything had separated the two of you. 

You were drawn from your thoughts by the power going out, plunging the entire building into darkness. As the emergency lights came on, you heard Sharon giving Steve a location. He quickly rushed out the door with Sam close behind him. Without hesitation, you hurried after the pair of them and didn’t look back. 

————————-

“Son of a bitch really packs a punch, doesn’t he?” You mumbled as you rolled over rubbing the back of your head where you had hit it on impact.

“You alright?” You heard Sam ask as his face came into view.

“I’m not dead and nothing feels broken.”

“Then come on, we gotta find Cap,” he said as he helped you up off the ground. 

You ran threw the building, witnessing the path of the Winter Soldier’s destruction as you did so. When you saw that most of the occupants were making a hasty retreat outside, you grabbed Sam by the arm and yelled over the sound of the alarm, “I don’t think they’re still in the building!” 

He simply shook his head in agreement, took you by the hand so you wouldn’t get separated in the crowd, and pushed through the swarms of people. Once you were outside, you split up and went your separate ways to look for Steve. You found him in the water pulling a lifeless Bucky Barnes out of a ruined helicopter and swimming over to the embankment with him still in tow. After calling out to Sam, you ran over to Steve and tried to help him get Barnes up on dry land. 

“Is he dead?” You asked, pulling on the metal arm as hard as you could. 

“We aren’t that lucky,” Sam huffed as he ran up and helped Steve get him up where he could carry him. 

The three of you managed to get him secured in an abandoned warehouse and waited for him to wake up. When he finally did, he told you all about what happened with the doctor and about the other Winter Soldiers. The four of you agreed that you had to do something to stop him from waking up those other assassins to wreak havoc on the world. 

You had decided that you couldn’t call Tony or anyone else who had signed the Accords because they wouldn’t be allowed to do anything. Sam volunteered that he knew a guy that went by Ant-Man who might be willing to help, and you mentioned that it probably wasn’t doing Wanda any good being locked up in the training facility. 

“What about Barton?” Sam asked. 

“Clint’s retired,” you countered. 

“Yeah, but-“

“Sam,” Steve interrupted, “Can y/n and I have a moment?”

“Sure.” 

Once Sam was out of earshot, you said, “I can’t call Clint in, Steve. I’m the one that talked him into retiring. He’ll feel like he has to do it if it’s me. I can’t do it.”

“And I’d never ask you to,” he said, placing both his hands on your arms. “But I need to know, if I call him, and I ask him, and there’s no mention of you at all, and he chooses to help...are you and I going to be good?” 

As you looked in his eyes, you knew that this was what you had been trying to explain to Everett earlier. In spite of everything that was going on, he cared enough to ask instead of just doing what needed to be done. In that moment, you knew you’d follow him on this path to the very end, no matter where it led you.

“Clint isn’t a child. He’s a grown man. If he chooses to get mixed up in this, I might get pissed at him for being a dumbass, but you and I will be good,” you said with a smile. 

Steve gave you one in return before pulling you close enough to plant a kiss on your forehead. 

“Thank you,” he said before turning to walk away. 

“You didn’t ask if I was joining you or not, Cap!” You called out after him.

“I assumed you made that decision when you fished me out of the water!”

As you watched him leave to make the necessary arrangements, you whispered to yourself, “I made that decision a long time before that.”


	16. Chapter 16

You were currently squeezed into the back of an old VW Beetle next to the Winter Soldier while the four of you waited for Sharon Carter to arrive. Steve had called her to explain everything that was going on and she had volunteered to bring your confiscated equipment to you. Although you didn’t voice your concerns to Steve, you had the sneaking suspicion that this was going to end up being a trap of some kind. 

Next to you, Bucky shifted awkwardly in the seat. It occurred to you that it must be very uncomfortable for a man of his build to be sitting in the backseat of such a tiny car, especially since it looked like Sam had his seat all the way back. 

“Hopefully she’ll hurry up and get here soon,” you leaned over and whispered to him. 

“It wouldn’t be so bad if somebody would move his seat up,” he muttered, staring at the back of Sam’s head.

“Have you asked him to?”

“No. I know he’s doing it on purpose.”

You snorted and shook your head in awe.

“By the way, I’m sorry about earlier. How does your head feel?” He asked. 

From the look on his face, he seemed to genuinely be concerned. 

“It’s fine. I’ve had worse.” 

You watched as he cocked an eyebrow in disbelief. 

“Okay, so getting beat up by a super soldier is pretty close to the top of the list. I’m still fine.”

He gave you a half-smile and simply said, “I’m glad.”

“Y/n, is he bothering you back there?” Sam asked.

“Why don’t you mind your own business?” Bucky snapped back.

“Guys, cut it out,” Steve said from his spot in the driver’s seat. 

The car went back to being awkwardly silent. The four of you stayed that way until another car pulled up and parked in front of you.

“That must be her,” Sam said. “What the hell is he doing here?”

You leaned to your right to peek past Steve’s seat to see Everett getting out of the passenger side of the car. Beside you, you felt Bucky’s body tense. He must have known who was in charge of putting him in that box. Without thinking, you reached over and placed a hand on his leg as a comforting gesture. He turned to you with a surprised expression. 

“It’s okay. He and I go back a long way,” was your only response. 

Once Steve was out of the car, he moved his seat and offered you his hand to help you get out. Then he walked over to Sharon on her side of the car while you joined Everett on his.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“I could ask you the same thing. Helping an international war criminal escape isn’t going to look good on your job application.”

“He wasn’t behind that explosion. We’re going after the guy that was so we can stop him before he does anything else. There’s a whole team of Bucky’s that he’s planning to let loose on the world. Only difference is, they are much worse. How can I sit that one out?”

“How do you know you can believe anything he’s telling you? What if he’s making it all up?”

“He might be. All I can do is trust my instincts, and they’re telling me he’s on the level.”

Everett sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“I answered yours, but you didn’t answer mine,” you said.

Behind you, you heard the sound of the trunk popping open and a few seconds later, Steve was standing beside you handing you your equipment. 

“Rogers,” Everett said, turning his attention to Steve. “Could I have a word with you, privately?”

“Sure, excuse us a minute, y/n.”

As they walked a few feet away, you decided to use the time to sort out what was bothering you. Moving over to Sharon, you asked, “So, who was it that got to you? I’m betting it was Natasha.”

“Um, sorry?”

“Come on, be straight with me. Sure, you’ve helped us with the Bucky thing some…gave us his location a couple of times, let us listen to his interview…all very minor stuff. But stealing evidence from the CIA, that’s a big jump. I know you like Steve, but this doesn’t feel like you. I’m guessing Natasha set this up. You offer to bring us our equipment, it makes Steve trust you so he goes along with it, then you tell Stark and the others where we are so they can swoop in and try to stop us before “The Big Ross” gets involved. I know Nat too well to not see her written all over this plan.”

She stared at you and you could tell she was trying to come up with a response.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to say anything,” you said. “We wouldn’t have gotten far without our stuff, and I expected Tony and them to try something. But, I would recommend that you reevaluate this little thing you’ve got going with Steve. You ever try to double-cross him again, no matter what your reasons, and you’ll be dealing with me. Understand?”

She nodded slightly and you gave her a smile before turning and walking towards where Everett and Steve were still talking. 

“I thought we were in a hurry. You boys going to chit chat all day?” You asked.

“No, I think we’re done,” Steve replied. You watched as he headed back in the direction of the cars. 

“No chance you’d change your mind about going?” Everett asked. 

"My mind is made up.”

“Do you remember when I said I wasn’t giving up on you? That still stands.”

You reached up and put your hand on the back of his neck before taking a deep breath. This was going to be the hardest thing you’d ever have to say to him, but it needed to be done. You didn’t know where this mess was going to lead you, but you had decided that you couldn’t drag him down with you. 

“But maybe it’s time you gave up on me, Ev.”

“What?” He asked, his expression a mixture of disbelief and sadness.

“Look at us. I’m not the girl I was twenty years ago. This is my life now. These people are my family. You’ve worked so hard to get where you are, and where I am is that I’m about to go on the run with a couple of former superheroes and a brainwashed assassin with memory problems. Any connection to me is going to ruin everything you’ve built, and I think I’m past the point where I can change who I am, even for you.”

You gently ran your fingers through his hair and leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. You pulled back only a couple of inches and whispered, “This is just who we are. But don’t doubt that I love you, Ev.” 

Then you turned and rushed back to the car, determined not to look back at him.

—————————————-

When you reached the place where you were going to meet the rest of the team, Steve and Sam got out of the car first and moved their seats to let you and Bucky out of the back. 

“I’ll get out in a minute,” you whispered. Steve gave you a knowing look and said, “Take your time.”

“Are you getting out or not?” Sam asked Bucky. 

“I will.”

“All you’ve done is complain about not having enough leg room and now you won’t get out?”

“Sam,” Steve said, cutting him off. With a loud sigh, Sam slammed his door shut and Steve followed suit, leaving you and Bucky alone in the car. You felt his eyes on you and it made you very uncomfortable.

“No offense,” you said, “but could you stop staring at me?”

“You’ve been crying ever since you talked to that guy. I don’t like to see a girl cry.”

“I haven’t been crying,” you replied, reaching up and rubbing your eyes.

You were taken by surprise when he tentatively wrapped his metal arm around your shoulders and patted you gently. The pair of you sat like that for several minutes, making no sound except for your occasional sniffle. When you had finally dried it all up, you thanked him and got out of the car. Steve moved over to stand beside you and you took ahold of his arm. He smiled at you, and without him even saying anything, you knew he was checking on you. 

You cleared your throat and asked, “So what did you and Everett talk about?”

“You. He said he had offered you a great opportunity and that if wasn’t for your blind devotion to me, you would have taken him up on it. And that if I cared about you, I should let you go.”

“What did you say to that?”

“I told him he was right, for the most part. But that I respected you enough to not second-guess your decisions, and if he really loves you, he’ll learn to do the same. That having your back doesn’t necessarily mean he has to agree with you.”

“Is this them?” Bucky asked from where he was standing on the other side of the car. You turned your attention to the ramp to see a van coming up fast and sliding to a stop alongside the Beetle. Wanda jumped out of the passenger seat and ran to you, pulling you into a tight squeeze. After the incident with her invading your mind, you weren’t sure how it was going to be having her on the team. But she had earned Clint’s trust, so you gave her a chance, much like he had given Natasha one for your benefit so many years ago.

“Hey, honey,” you said, returning her hug. “Glad you decided to come.”

“I needed to get off my ass,” she replied, looking over her shoulder at Clint and then back at you with a smile. 

“Hey, baby,” he said as walked up to you. He was wearing that familiar smirk that you had always loved so much. 

“Hey, dumbass. I see you were stupid enough to come running when Cap called.” 

You wrapped your arms around his neck and let yourself melt into his strong embrace. God, had you missed him since he’d retired. 

Whispering in your ear, he said, “Figured my best girl might be needing me. Couldn’t say no to that.”

You two must have been holding onto each other for longer than you realized, because when Steve asked about the new recruit, you still hadn’t let go.

Finally pulling back, Clint said, “Oh yeah. Might need to pour a little coffee in him.” Then he slid open the van door to reveal a guy jolting awake from the noise.

“What time zone is this?” He asked as he got out. As he caught sight of Steve and began an awkwardly enthusiastic introduction, you focused on Clint and thought about all the things you wanted to say to him. How you wanted to scold him for coming in…and you wanted to ask him how the kids took the news…and how Laura reacted…but then you remembered what Steve said about loving and respecting someone enough to not second-guess their decisions. So when he looked at you with a weird expression and asked “What?” all you said was, “I’ve really missed you, partner.”

A voice over the airport’s PA system suddenly announced that it was closing. Steve looked out over his newly formed team and said, “Time to suit up.”

———————————————————

While waiting for the others to finish getting ready, you found Clint leaning against a wall fiddling with one of his arrows. From the distracted look on his face, you knew his mind was a million miles away. You leaned against the wall beside him and sighed deeply.

“Been a long day?” He asked.

“You have no idea. Went to a funeral, tried to apprehend a murder suspect, got arrested, got a job offer, got my ass kicked, smuggled said murder suspect to safety, lost a friend, made a new one, I think, and now I’ve got to fight all my old ones so I can fly out and probably get my ass kicked all over again.”

He chuckled beside you and said, “First chance we get, remind me to buy you a drink. Sounds like you need one.”

“You look like you need one, too. You want to talk about it?”

“Laura and I had a fight,” he said after awhile. “I explained the situation to her. Told her Cap needed me and I didn’t want to let him down. She said…well, it isn’t important what she said. Why don’t you tell me about that job offer you were talking about?”

You hesitated for a moment before you decided that, with everything else going on, there was no reason not to be blatantly honest about the whole thing. 

“Everett was the one who arrested us. He wanted me to join his team. I told him I’d think about it. Then all of this happened, and let’s just say it put my life into perspective. I can’t be who he wants me to be. Even though he loves me, I just can’t be that person.”

“Laura said that I was only doing this for you. That I ought to put my wife and my children ahead of you for once. I know I’m not perfect, but I thought I’d always taken care of my responsibilities to them.”

“You’re a wonderful father, Clint. Sure, you’re not always home every night to tuck your kids into bed, but you love them and they know it. Their dad is a hero. They’re proud of you. She ought to be proud of you, too.”

He reached over and took your hand in his. 

“So, how long have you and Everett been a thing without telling me about it?” He asked, obviously changing the subject.

“We aren’t a thing. He confessed his feelings to me. I told him it wouldn’t work.”

“Why? Is there somebody else?”

You felt your cheeks grow hot and you suddenly became very conscious of the fact that the “somebody else” was holding your hand and asking about himself without even knowing it.

“We’re moving out,” you heard a deep, masculine voice say from around the corner. When Bucky came into view, you noticed how his eyes darted down to yours and Clint’s enclasped hands and his brows furrowed in confusion. Quickly letting go of Clint’s hand, you hurried over to join Bucky. 

“I’m ready. Let’s go, soldier.”


	17. Chapter 17

“We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now.” Bucky said as he crouched beside you on the airport pavement. 

“As long as they keep cutting off our path to the jet, they’ve won. We’ll never make it out of here,” you said, breathing hard and trying to catch your breath.

“We need to draw out the flyers... I'll take Vision. You get to the jet,” Steve said.

In your ear, you heard Sam yell, “No, you get to the jet! The rest of us aren't getting out of here!”

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Clint said in your earpiece, “if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it.” 

“Alright, Sam,” Steve said. “What’s the plan?”

“We need a diversion. Something big!”

“I got something kinda big,” Lang piped in, “but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell, and if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me.”

“He's gonna tear himself in half?” Bucky asked you uncertainly.

“Don’t ask me. I just met the guy,” you replied.

“You sure about this, Scott?” Steve asked.

“I do it all the time. I mean, once... In a lab. And I passed out.” 

“Oh, well, then this ought to go great,” you whispered to Bucky.

“I’m the boss, I’m the boss, I’m the boss,” Lang muttered to himself before instantly growing to the size of a building. 

“Shit,” you said to yourself, staring straight up at Giant-Man. 

“Guess that’s the signal,” Steve said. “Let’s go!” 

As your eyes wandered over to Clint where he stood several yards away, you replied, “You two go. I’m gonna stay.”

“What?” Bucky asked, grabbing you by the arm. “Come on! We need you.”

“No, you don’t. I’ll just slow you down.”

“You know what’s going to happen if you stay?” Steve asked with a sad tone to his voice. 

“Yeah, that’s why I have to.”

Turning your attention to Bucky, you said, “Take care of the pip-squeak for me. He’s gotten used to having me around to babysit him.”

Bucky gave you a soft smile and said, “I will. Don’t forget, it was my job before it was yours.”

Then you watched as the two of them took off in a sprint towards the jet. You reminded yourself that they would be alright and you would see them again. Picking yourself up off the ground, you ran to where Clint was fighting and joined him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He asked. “You should have gone with Steve and Barnes!”

“Trying to get rid of me, Hawkeye?” You replied with a smirk.

“You know this isn’t going to end well for us!”

“Yeah, I know.”

When you turned to look at him, you found him giving you a strange look that you couldn’t decipher. You didn’t have time to think about it, though, because you both had to face off against, and lose to, King T’Challa. 

Lying on your back and staring up at the sky, you became aware of Clint crawling over and flopping down on his back beside you. 

“I’ll say it again,” Clint groaned, “you should have gone with Steve and Barnes.”

“Probably, but I wasn’t going to leave you behind to face this thing without me.”

“And if they put us in jail?”

“Then they put us both in jail.”

You reached over to take his hand, and for the first time, you felt him tense at the contact. It was so slight that you weren’t sure you hadn’t imagined it. Before you could pull back in response, however, he relaxed and took ahold of your fingers, stroking them gently. You didn’t say anything else to each other throughout the process of your arrest and transport to the Raft. They placed you in the cell across from his. When Tony showed up, you stared at the wall in front of you and simply listened to their conversation. You didn’t look his way until you heard Tony ask why Clint didn’t think about his wife and kids before choosing the wrong side. You glanced his way to find him staring past Tony directly at you. When you locked eyes with him, he quickly averted his gaze. 

“You wouldn’t understand,” was his only response. 

————————————————

“I knew you’d come,” you said as Steve opened the door to your cell and you threw your arms around him.

“I’m glad you have so much faith in me,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Where’s Bucky?” You asked. “He didn’t come with you to help?”

“I’ll tell you about it later,” he said as he started opening the other cell doors. “Right now, we gotta go.”

Once all of you were on the Quinjet, you went to stand beside Steve at his spot in the pilot’s seat. 

“Bucky lost his arm,” Steve said. Before you could ask, he volunteered, “The metal one, thankfully. After what happened in Germany, he’s worried that he’s still too much of a threat to everyone. He voluntarily put himself into cryofreeze in Wakanda until someone can figure out how to get that stuff out of his head. He wanted me to thank you for helping him, and for caring. He said it meant a lot to him, and you can always consider him your friend.”

You placed your hand on Steve’s shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. You hated that after finally getting his childhood friend back, he had to lose him all over again. 

“So, where are we going, Captain?” You asked, trying to change the subject. 

“I don’t know yet. It’ll be harder to hide if we all stick together, but I’m not going to ask anybody to leave either. Guess we’ll just have to play it by ear.”

Apparently overhearing your conversation, Lang came over to you and said, “I’d appreciate it if you could take me as close as possible to San Francisco. I’ve got a daughter there.”

“That’ll be the first place they look for you,” Steve said. 

“I know, but I’ve got some friends who can help me. I’d like to at least give that a try before I take off for some far corner of the world.”

You looked over at Clint to find him sitting on the bench with his elbows propped on his knees, staring down at the floor. Walking over and sitting beside him, you said, “We’re taking Lang to San Francisco, you want us to drop you off at home on the way?”

“So that they can pick me up in the front yard? No, thanks.”

“No one knows about your house and your family, Clint. They won’t find you.”

“Stark does. He already put us in prison once. Do you really think he wouldn’t do it again?”

“No, I don’t think he would.”

He gave a dry, insincere laugh and said, “Then you’ve got more faith in him than I do.”

“Go home to your family, Clint.”

“I can’t. I wasn’t completely honest with you before. That fight I had with Laura…she told me that if I left, I shouldn’t bother coming back.”

“Oh, Clint, I’m sure she was just angry. If you go—“

“Yeah, if I go home, break my bow on the front porch, beg her for forgiveness, and promise to never get involved again she might take me back. But I can’t do that unless I’m one hundred percent sure that I’m going to mean what I say. Right now I can’t be.”

——————————————————-

The rest of the flight to California was silent. Steve landed the plane in a clearing out in an extremely rural area. 

“I’m going to go part of the way with Scott. There’s something I’ve got to do. The rest of you stay with the jet. If there’s a threat, don’t wait for me,” Steve said while lowering the door.

“I want to go with you,” you said. 

“Then I’m going too,” Clint said.

“No,” Steve said. “That’s too many of us out at one time. We might draw attention. Anything you need, just let me know. I’ll take care of it.”

“A couple of cell phones,” you said. 

“Actually, I could use one too,” Clint added.

“Alright. You ready Lang?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah! Bye, guys! It was great meeting you. If you ever need me, let me know.”

“Bye, Lang,” you said, offering him your hand. “Take care of yourself.”

“That’s not going to cut it,” he said, stretching out his arms like he was going to hug you. “We’ve served time together now.”

“We were in jail like two days,” you said with a laugh but giving him a hug anyway.

“Still counts, and you should call me Scott now. Maybe even Scottie.”

“Okay, Scottie. Thanks for the help. I’ll see you around.”

After they were gone, there was nothing left to do but wait for Steve to come back.

———————————————

“I’m back,” Steve said, walking up the ramp of the jet. “Here’s your stuff.” He added, handing you and Clint a package each. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where are we going?” Sam asked.

“Hopefully to find a corner of this world where they won’t know us.”

You opened your package to find two prepaid cell phones inside. Flipping through one of them, you found its number and programmed it into the other. When you got a free moment, you’d pay to have it delivered to its intended recipient. Clint reached over and took one of them out of your hand and did the same thing. 

\------------------------------

After a rough night of trying to sleep on the jet, you awoke to find that it was no longer moving. 

“Where are we?” You asked, rubbing your eyes.

“In the middle of nowhere,” Sam answered. 

“We’re home, or what counts for home right now,” Steve said.

“You haven’t forgotten what we talked about, have you, Cap?” Clint asked.

“No, I just thought I should bring the rest of them here first.”

“What are you talking about?” You asked.

Clint took you by the arm and led you away from the group.

“I’m taking off,” he said.

“We’re splitting from the rest of the team?”

“No, we’re not. I am.”

At first you weren’t sure you had heard him right. The pair of you had always been a team. You couldn’t believe that he’d really want to leave and go off on his own…and that he’d want to leave you behind.

“Clint, what is going on? What’s wrong between us? You’ve always been honest with me before.”

“There’s nothing wrong between us, baby,” he said, lifting his hand up to cup your cheek. “But something has come up that I’ve got to figure out, and I can’t do it here. I need to be by myself. Believe me, if I could take you with me, I would.”

He rubbed his thumb gently across your cheek and it made your eyes involuntarily flutter shut. When you opened them, you found him staring at you intently in a way that put butterflies in your stomach and caused your chest to ache.

“Do you remember when we used to go undercover together?” He asked, still staring at you.

You smiled fondly at the memories that his question brought to your mind. The days when it was just the two of you, and you could hold him and kiss him without any fear of what it meant or what damage it might do. Back when you hadn’t yet realized how much you truly loved him. 

“Yes, I remember,” you whispered.

He pulled you to him and placed a soft, tender kiss on the corner of your mouth…not on the cheek, but not quite on the lips either. 

“I’ll miss you,” he said. “You call me if you need me.”

“Just promise me you’ll come back.”

“I’d always come back for you, baby. I promise.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Black Panther spoilers. No major ones though.

You awoke suddenly in the middle of the night to the sound of your cell phone ringing. Considering almost everyone who had the number was currently asleep in the same house as you, your first thought was that it must have been Clint. Rolling over in your bed, you quickly grabbed the phone up and didn’t take the time to look at the number.

“Clint?” Was the first thing you said when you answered.

“No, it isn’t Clint. It’s me,” a familiar voice said through the phone. 

“Everett?” You asked. 

Of course it was Everett. He was the one you had sent that second phone to. Steve wasn’t the only person sending out olive branches and trying to repair relationships. 

“Yes…were you asleep?” 

“Yeah, it’s nighttime here. What’s up?”

“Let me start by saying this isn’t a personal call, but I do need to ask you for a favor.”

You noticed that his voice sounded much colder and more detached than you had remembered. Apparently he was still upset about what happened in Germany. This was the first time you had spoken to him since then.

“What is it?”

“I’ve got something I’ve got to do, and I need somebody with me that I can trust.”

Although you knew you would regret asking, you also knew you didn’t have a choice. After all, you had other people to worry about besides yourself. 

“This isn’t just an elaborate trap to catch the Avengers, is it?”

“Do you really think I would stoop that low?” He asked. You could hear the disappointment and bitterness in his voice when he said it.

“No, I don’t. But I’m responsible for these people. I had to ask.”

“Can I count on you or not? You’re the one who told me to call you if I needed you. You sent me a phone, not the other way around.”

“What do you need?”

“Can you come to South Korea?”

“When?”

“Immediately.”

“That’s not much notice, but yeah I’ll be there.”

“Good. Call me when you arrive. We’ll make additional arrangements.” Then he hung up.

 

———————————————

“Where are you going?” You heard Wanda ask from somewhere behind you while you packed your bag.

“South Korea…an old friend needs my help. I told him to count me in.”

“It’s too risky. Someone might recognize you. You could get caught.”

“I know, but I owe it to him,” you said, hoisting your bag onto your shoulder.

“Steve and Sam won’t like it,” she said, still standing in the doorway. You knew if she decided to stop you from going, there wasn’t much you would be able to do about it.

“You’re right. They won’t like it. Sam will say it’s a stupid idea. Steve will understand, but he’ll worry the whole time I’m gone. And if he was awake, he would try to stop me too.”

“I won’t stop you,” she said, walking forward and pulling you into a hug. “But I will worry about you.”

You returned her hug and stroked her hair while she rested her head on your shoulder. 

“Hey, I’ll be fine. It’ll just be a couple of days and I’ll be right back.”

“You better be,” she said with a sniffle. “I don’t want to lose any more family.” 

———————————————

“It’s about time,” you said as you hopped into the passenger seat next to Everett. “I’ve been loitering around in a crowded street for twenty minutes hoping no one would recognize me.”

“Sorry, I got held up,” he said, taking off without even looking at you.

“What’s the mission?” You asked.

“An artifact was stolen from a London museum earlier this week. Apparently it was made of vibranium, and now it’s for sale. You happen to be looking at the buyer.”

“So what, we pinch the guy and recover the vibranium all at one time?”

“Something like that.”

“You didn’t have enough people at your disposal for this?”

“There could be trouble. I need someone who I know is good that I can also trust. No matter where we stand personally at the moment, you are both of those things.”

“Right,” was your only response.

He glanced over at you and said, “You’ll need to change. I’ll take you somewhere where you can freshen up. Those boxes in the backseat are for you.”

You reached into the backseat and grabbed a long, flat cardboard box and opened it to find an expensive-looking black lace jumpsuit inside.

“A dress would probably fit in better where we’re going, but I thought this might be a touch more practical. It should be fancy enough.”

“It’s beautiful,” you said, pulling it out enough to look at the detailing on the front.

“There are shoes back there to go with it. I hope I remembered your size right.”

“Where are we going?” You asked.

“A casino, of sorts. No weapons allowed, but we’ll find a way past that.”

“I’m not sure where I’ll hide them in this,” you muttered.

“Like I said, we’ll find a way.”

————————————————-

You admired your outfit in the mirror one last time before exiting the bathroom. It was an absolutely stunning silk jumpsuit covered in lace that looked like it was custom-designed for your figure. 

“Well, what do you think?” You asked as you stood in the doorway.

You watched as Everett’s eyes flickered over every inch of your body. For a moment, you saw that stoic demeanor he had been wearing since you reunited slip off, but it didn’t last long.

“Very nice,” he said. “Are you ready?”

“Almost.” 

You walked over to the table that held your weapon options and carefully looked them over. You finally decided on a pair of knives that would fit nicely inside the long sleeves of your outfit and a small pistol with a thigh holster. Propping your foot in the chair, you moved the almost hip-high slits of your pants leg enough to strap it into place. Standing back on the ground, you studied how the material draped around the weapon and decided that it was easily-accessible while still remaining hidden. 

“Whoever picked out this outfit did a good job,” you said.

“Thank you,” Everett mumbled. 

“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go,” you said, heading for the door.

————————————————-

When the car stopped, it felt like your eyebrows travelled all the way up to your hairline.

“This is a casino?” You asked, looking at the exterior which appeared to be nothing more than an average building surrounded by street vendors.

“It isn’t exactly what you would call an ‘on the level’ kind of establishment. That’s why they keep it hidden. My people are already in place. Come on.”

 

As you walked in beside him, you gently grabbed his arm, causing him to turn quickly to look at you.

“You scream government agent, Everett,” you said, studying how official he looked in his dark gray suit and black tie. “I thought you might like to be less conspicuous.”

“Yes, of course.”

You walked the rest of the way holding his arm until the metal detector came into view.

“Do you have that taken care of?” You asked under your breath.

“Of course I do.”

He whispered something to one of the men guarding the door and then they waved the two of you inside. He guided you over to one of the gambling tables where you would wait for your mark to show up. You were at a heightened level of alertness as you scanned the casino, identifying Everett’s men, civilians, and potential threats.

“Try to look like you’re having fun,” Everett muttered beside you. Putting some chips in your hand, he added, “Pick a number.”

Handing the chips back to him, you said, “I need a drink.” Then you let go of his arm and started making your way over to the bar, studying everyone as you did so. After you got your drink and headed back to the table, you saw that Everett was no longer alone, but was talking to someone you hadn’t expected to see again for a long time.

“Your highness,” you said, bowing your head slightly out of respect. 

“Miss Y/n,” T’Challa said. “I am pleasantly surprised to cross paths with you again. It presents me with an opportunity to apologize for our last meeting. I felt quite…ungentlemanly…about the whole thing.”

“As I recall, my backside was sore for a week from where you threw me down on that asphalt,” you said with a sly smile. 

“And as I recall,” he said, “you fought bravely in defense of your friends.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to,” he said.

As he turned to walk away, it occurred to you to ask about Bucky, but you knew you needed to be mysterious about it. Sure Bucky didn’t bomb the UN, but he still killed a lot of people and you didn’t want Everett trying to lock him up for any of that. 

“Your highness?” You called after him. “How is the weather in Wakanda these days? Is it still freezing?”

He gave you a knowing smile and replied, “It is getting warmer every day.”

Once he was gone, Everett gave you a puzzled expression and asked, “Freezing in Wakanda? What was that all about?”

“It’s better if you don’t know, Everett,” you answered, taking a sip of your drink. 

Your attention turned to a large group of men entering the casino, the leader of which you recognized from a previous encounter.

“Klaue is the man we’re after?” You asked Everett.

“You know him?” 

“He was there when we went to confront Ultron.”

Turning his focus to Klaue, Everett said, “That is quite the entourage you have there. Are you about to drop a mix tape?”

“Yeah, I am,” Klaue said. Addressing one of his subordinates, he continued, “Send him the link.”

“No, please don’t make me listen to your music,” Everett replied.

You noticed that Klaue was staring at you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable. Was it your imagination or was he trying to place you?

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” He asked you.

“No,” you said.

“No, I think I do. I just can’t figure out from where.”

“That’s really of no concern,” Everett said, putting himself between the two of you. “Do you have it or not?”

Everett turned his head away when Klaue unzipped his pants and pulled the vibranium out.

“You like what you see?” He asked you with a wink and a crazy laugh.

“I’ve seen bigger,” you replied.

Suddenly from somewhere beside you, a fight started and then all hell broke loose. You made a move for Klaue, but Everett grabbed you and pulled you behind one of the tables. He used the briefcase that was supposed to contain the payment as a shield when someone started shooting at him and proceeded to drag you out of the casino. 

“Get in the car!” He yelled at you as he got in the driver’s seat.

“What the hell is going on?” You yelled as you hopped in the passenger seat. “Why did we just run out?”

“Because we are here for Klaue and the vibranium, and T’Challa is also here for Klaue and the vibranium. I saw him and his two sidekicks follow them out the casino, so we’re going to follow them.”

“I’m not fighting T’Challa,” you said.

“Of course we aren’t going to fight him. Did I say anything about fighting him?” He asked as he sped down the road.

“No, but I’m just putting it out there. If he wants the guy, he can have him. I’m not getting involved in that. He kicked my ass in Germany. I don’t want to relive that.”

You grabbed the door and the console when the car came skidding to a sudden stop beside the completely wrecked remains of another vehicle. Everett rolled down your window and yelled at the two women to get in the car. Once they were in, he slammed on the gas and started racing down the road again. You didn’t stop until you came upon T’Challa with Klaue in his grasp. After the women talked him down from killing him in front of witnesses, Everett called for backup transport to take everyone to his makeshift headquarters. As the car stopped in front of the building, you watched through the window as everyone went inside. 

“Are you going to stay here all night?” Everett asked.

“I should probably be going home.” 

“But we aren’t done.”

“You know I’m no good at interrogation, and I’m a fugitive on the run so I don’t give a damn about jurisdiction. Whether you get him or T’Challa does, he’s in for hell and that’s all that matters. My part in this is over.”

You watched as he slid his hand over the steering wheel, clearly thinking something over. 

“At least wait until morning,” he said. “It’s the middle of the night. I can push all of this back until then. Give everyone time to catch a couple hours shut eye. Klaue will keep. Tomorrow, I’ll take you wherever you need to go. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Alright, give me a few minutes to make arrangements.”

“I’ll wait here.” 

When he got back to the car, he took you to the same hotel room that you had used earlier in the evening to get dressed. 

“This is actually my room,” he said, opening the door and letting you in. “But I’ll let you have it. I’ll go see if they have another one on this floor for me.” 

“Don’t bother,” you said, sitting down on one of the two beds. “Unless you want to. I’m fine.” 

He nodded his head and came into the room, closing the door behind him. As you watched him actively try to avoid you, you felt the need to say something. But you couldn’t think of anything that hadn’t already been included in your letter to him. If it couldn’t fix things, then there was nothing left to do.

As the sound of muffled music began to fill the room, you hopped up and headed over to your bag.

“Is that...the Harry Potter theme?” Everett asked.

“Hey, Wanda,” you said when you answered your phone. 

“How are you?” She asked right off. “When are you coming home?”

“I’m fine. The job is done. I’m leaving tomorrow.” 

“Good,” she replied. You imagined her smiling to herself on the other end of the line.

“Hey, guess who showed up today,” she said.

Your heart felt like it was going to jump right out of your chest.

“Natasha,” she said.

“Oh.” 

Well, you didn’t have to worry about it jumping out of your chest anymore. Now it felt like it had dropped into the pit of your stomach. 

“I mean, that’s great. I’ve missed that red-headed troublemaker. I don’t know which to do first, punch her for worrying me or hug her for being alright.” 

The line was silent for a few moments before Wanda said, “He’s going to come back, y/n.” 

You took a deep breath and tried to steady your emotions. 

“You could call him. He told you to if you ever needed him,” she said. 

“I don’t think this is how he meant it. Besides, maybe the jerk just went home to his family like I told him to in the first place.” 

“Maybe, but if he did, I don’t think he stayed.” 

You couldn’t talk about this with her right now. You had tried very hard not to even think about Clint since he left. Whatever it was he had to work out, worrying about it wasn’t going to help either of you. 

“Wanda, honey, I’ve had a long day and it’s late. I’m going to go to bed.” 

“Okay, I love you,” She said with a sad tone to her voice.

“I love you, too. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

After you hung up, you sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor. In your head, you replayed the vision that Wanda had put into your mind years ago when you first encountered her.

You were standing at a kitchen counter cutting up a plate full of vegetables. It was a kitchen that you knew very well, but it was slightly different from how you remembered it. The finishing touches seemed to be more along your personal style than they usually were. Your attention was drawn from your task by a couple of squealing children running through the front door. 

“What did I tell you about running through the house?” You gently scolded as they disappeared into the next room. 

“What do you expect? They are ours, after all,” a voice you knew oh so well said from the direction of the front door. You looked his way to find him leaning against the wall with a relaxed smile on his face. You couldn’t remember the last time you had seen him look so happy. He walked over to you and pulled you into his strong arms, placing a kiss on your lips. Savoring the sensation, you ran your hands up his chest and around his neck, pushing him closer. You could still feel traces of his smile against your skin as you kissed him. From somewhere in the back of your mind, a trace of reality came to light, causing you to pull back. 

“This isn’t right, Clint. It isn’t real.” 

“It could’ve been,” he whispered. 

“No. I know you love me, but no matter what anybody says, I know you never loved me like this.” 

Gently grabbing your face with his hand, he stared you directly in the eyes and said, “The hell I don’t.” 

“Y/n? Y/n, are you okay?” 

You glanced up to find Everett looking at you with a concerned expression on his face.

“I’m fine. Just thinking about something.” 

After a few quiet minutes you said, “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“I suppose so.”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“Yes, I do. I imagine everyone does.” 

“Yeah...I imagine so.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains some Black Panther spoilers. Also, I have no idea how much time passed between Civil War and Black Panther, or how much time will pass between Black Panther and Infinity War, so for the sake of my story I'm just doing whatever works best.

After a night of tossing and turning, you finally gave up on the idea of sleeping sometime around sunrise and went into the bathroom to get dressed. The shower helped wash away some of your exhaustion, but you were still ready to go home and put all of this behind you. Once you were back with Steve, Sam, Wanda, and now Natasha, you knew you would be too preoccupied to spend time worrying about anything else. 

When you came out the bathroom, you found that Everett was now up.

“How long until you’re ready?” You asked.

“About twenty minutes. I need to swing by and handle this situation, and then I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” 

You sighed deeply at the thought of having to wait around for several more hours before you could head home, but you decided not to argue with him about it. When you pulled up in front of headquarters, you made no move to get out of the car.

“I’ll wait here,” you said.

“Really? This could take awhile.” 

“I took enough of a risk hanging out with your CIA boys and girls last night. I think it’s best if I stay here.” 

Once he was gone, you pulled a book out of your bag and started reading. Right about the time you began chapter four, the car shook slightly and the sound of an explosion met your ears. You threw the book into the floorboard, pulled a piece out of your bag, hopped out the car, and rushed inside the building. Pushing your way through the door, you saw several agents jump up from where they had taken cover, their guns pointed towards you, and one of them shouted for you to drop your weapon. You did it without thinking, but not because they ordered you to.

“Everett!” you screamed, rushing forward to where he was lying on the floor. You dropped down beside him and tried to cradle his head, checking for signs of life. 

“It hit his spine,” the Wakandan woman beside you said. “He won’t make it if we don’t take him.” 

“We can’t,” the other one said.

“He was protecting me!”

“That was his choice.” 

“T’Challa,” you choked out through your tears while looking the young king in the eyes. In that moment, you didn’t concern yourself with titles or propriety; you were simply one human being pleading with another. 

“He—“ you paused, not knowing how to sum up that he held half a lifetime of friendship and love in the palm of his hands. “He deserves better than this,” You finally managed. “Please?”

“We will take him with us,” he said at last. Looking at the woman who served as his general, he added, “That is my final word.”

 

“Thank you,” you whispered, dropping your head down to Everett’s while you continued to sob. After they had loaded him up to transport him to Wakanda, T’Challa stayed behind with you for a moment. 

“We will take care of him. I promise. Go back to Captain Rogers. You are vulnerable here without Agent Ross’s authority to protect you.” 

You nodded slightly and thanked him again. He took a few steps forward, but stopped and said, “A woman who is a fugitive from the entire world came all this way, alone, to help a man who could put her in prison. I hope he realizes how fortunate he is to have gained such a fierce devotion.” 

Then he gave you a reassuring smile and walked away. Not knowing what to do, and still in a state of shock, you grabbed your bag before the CIA could confiscate it and wandered back to the hotel room, hoping none of them would look for you there. When you arrived, you flopped down on the bed and cried until you fell asleep from pure exhaustion. 

—————————————-

The next few days were a bit of a blur. Your time was spent in the hotel room, alternating between drinking, crying, and sleeping. You were vaguely aware of your phone ringing several times, but you simply chose to ignore it. Deep down, you felt very guilty about that. Your friends were probably terribly worried about you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to deal with it. No matter how much you fought it, your thoughts kept drifting to Everett. What if he died? You couldn’t stand the thought of it. You didn’t want to lose him, especially like this, with him hating you. 

On what must have been the third (or was it the fourth?) day, you awoke to the sun peeking through the window. As you blinked your eyes and tried to ignore your massive headache, you became aware of the feeling of someone’s hand resting on the bare skin of your arm. Startled, you rolled over and swung your arm in an attempt to neutralize your intruder, but he caught it and managed to subdue you. 

“I didn’t survive getting shot just so you could beat me to death,” Everett said as he smiled down at you. 

“Ev?” You whispered in disbelief. You pulled your arms out from his grip and started running your hands over his face, neck, and shoulders in an attempt to prove to yourself that he was real. “I saw you get shot in the spine. You can’t be here. It’s like you didn’t even get hit.”

“Well, you don’t have to sound so disappointed about it,” he said, still smiling. Once your initial shock passed, you grabbed him and started peppering kisses all over his cheek while tears of joy streamed down your face. You muttered over and over how worried you had been and how happy you were that he was alright. 

When you had finally calmed down, you lay still and watched as his face took on a serious expression. 

“You know, I almost believed you,” he said at last.

“What?”

“In Germany…when you told me to give up on you. Then I saw you, and listened to you, when I got shot. You ran towards an explosion, into a building full of agents, and straight to me. I don’t care what you tell me from now on. I’m never giving up on you again.”

Before you could respond, the door to the room was kicked in and the two of you jumped up in surprise. You watched as a tall, muscular, blonde man cautiously entered the room.

“Steve!”

“Y/n!”

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“You’re three days overdue and you haven’t been picking up your phone. We were afraid something might have happened to you, so we traced your cell here—“

“And you came to check on me,” you said with a smile. 

“Not just me,” he replied before saying into his communicator, “It’s all clear. I’ve got her. You can come in.”

A few seconds later, Wanda came running into the room and almost pounced you down onto the bed. 

“I was so worried about you,” she said.

Over her shoulder, you saw Vision float into the room. As if reading your mind, she said, “He came to find me.”

Behind him, Sam and Natasha walked in and joined the rest of the group. You stood up and hurried over to greet your old friend. 

“Almost didn’t recognize you with the blonde hair,” you joked while giving her a quick squeeze.

“Guess it is a pretty good disguise then,” she said. You noticed she kept staring at Everett with an uneasy expression.

“It’s alright,” you said. “He’s cool.”

“That’s not what I’m thinking about. Wanda got a little overanxious and—“

When she stopped talking, you followed her eyes to where they now rested on the doorway to find Clint standing there. You weren’t conscious of the exact moment you started running to him, but the next thing you knew, you were wrapped up in his arms. 

“You bastard, I’ve been worried sick about you,” you said.

“I could say the same thing about you. At least I picked up the phone when they called, unlike somebody.”

“Talk about your mid-life crisis,” you heard Everett say behind you.

You pulled back and noticed that Clint had shaved off part of his hair, and what was left could best be described as some kind of mohawk. 

“I should have known you’d be behind all this trouble,” Clint said, stepping around you until he was facing off with Everett. “Couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you?”

“If you mean am I going to be intimidated by a man who looks like a forty-five year old skater punk, then the answer is ‘no.’”

“Hilarious,” Clint said. “I didn’t remember you having a sense of humor. But about what you were saying, you should be intimidated. Now, what the hell has been going on these past few days that y/n wasn’t even able to check in with us? What did you drag her into?”

“I really don’t see how that’s any of your business, Barton.”

Clint started closing the distance between them and, sensing an escalation, you hurried to get in the middle.

“Ev needed help with a mission, so I came. We ran into T’Challa in the process. Everett got shot. T’Challa took him to Wakanda and fixed him up good as new.”

“Too bad,” Clint muttered under his breath. 

“I should have called, but I didn’t. That’s on me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag everybody out of hiding.”

“It’s okay,” Steve said. “We’re just glad you’re alright. Now, let’s forget about it and get out of here.”

As if on cue, his cell phone started ringing, causing everyone to look at him in confusion as he pulled it out of his pocket to answer it.

“Hello.”

While he listened to whoever was on the other end, you glanced back and forth nervously between Clint and Everett. They were still engaged in their staring contest, and you had the nagging suspicion that each of them would love nothing more than an opportunity to beat the shit out of the other.

“That was Tony,” Steve said after he hung up, getting the attention of every person in the room. “Banner just fell through the roof of some building in New York that Stark called the Sanctum.”

At the mention of Bruce’s name, your eyes flickered to Natasha. 

“The New York Sanctum…that’s Doctor Strange’s place,” Everett said. 

“Who is he?” Wanda asked.

“He used to be a neurosurgeon prior to his car accident. Since then, he’s become…a sorcerer…for lack of a better word.”

“Of course he has,” Sam said.

“According to Banner,” Steve continued, “some guy from space is coming to earth with an army.” 

“Great, another alien invasion,” Clint said with a loud sigh. “What does he want?"

“That,” Steve said, pointing at the stone in Vision’s forehead, “and, with our luck, probably to destroy the planet while he’s at it.”

“So, what’s the plan, Cap?” You asked.

“Call in everybody. Anybody who can and will help. Ross, you’ve seen T’Challa since I have, do you think we can count him in?”

“Yes, but I think the request would mean more coming from you than me…less official, more personal.”

“I’ll take care of it then.”

“Bucky,” you said. “I got the impression that they almost had him sorted out. He’d help us.”

“I’ll look into it while I’m down there,” Steve said. “Scott said if we ever needed him…We need to find him and pick him up.”

“I’ll handle that,” Everett volunteered.

“Yeah, because he won’t run with a cop chasing him,” Clint said. 

“I’ve got more resources available to search for a fugitive than you have.”

“You’re not worried your precious reputation is going to get ruined by teaming up with us? Arresting yourself sounds like it would be a real pain in the ass.”

“It’d be better than standing around waiting for some son of a bitch from space to blow up my planet.”

“That’s enough you two,” Steve interjected. “Ross has got the resources, and Scott will trust Clint. You can look for him together.”

“That ought to go wonderfully,” Natasha whispered as she moved up alongside you.

“The rest of you go back to the house and get prepped. After I go to Wakanda, I’ll call you with further orders.”

As everyone started filing out the door, you looked at Clint and Everett and asked them both, “Can you get along long enough to get this done?”

They stared at each other and Clint said, “I’ll get the job done. I always do.”

Everett rolled his eyes and added, “I can find him, with or without this guy’s help.”

“I guess I’ll take that as two ‘yes’s.’” Letting your expression soften, you continued, “Just take care of yourselves and hurry back, okay?”

As you headed out into the hall, you felt someone grab you by the arm. You turned around to find Clint standing very close to you.

“I know there isn’t time for this now, but when I get back, there’s something you and I need to talk about. It’s something we should have discussed a long time ago,” he said.

Unsure of how to respond, you simply nodded your head, gave his hand a squeeze, and left without saying a word.


	20. Chapter 20

“And that’s all of it...the whole story. You know the rest. Clint and Everett are still out there somewhere looking for Scott. I still don’t know what I’m going to do when they get back. Oh Steve, what should I do? Steve?”

Getting no response, you leaned forward from your spot resting against him and turned around to find that, at some point during your story, he had quietly drifted off to sleep. 

“As long as it takes, huh, Cap?” You said, shaking your head. Reaching up and pushing his hair back out of his face, you added, “In your defense, it has been a long few days.”

“He was about the worst person you could have picked for advice anyway,” a deep voice said from a dark corner of the room. You watched as Bucky strolled into the light without making a single sound. “He’s never even had a real girlfriend.” 

“How long have you been eavesdropping?” You asked. 

“Since about...2003 maybe...of course, my math could be wrong. You didn’t really give me any dates to work with.” 

He crossed the room and proceeded to step over Steve’s outstretched legs so he could join you on the couch. 

“Takes up a lot of room, doesn’t he?” he said. 

“Who should’ve I discussed this with then? You?” 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have been a bad candidate. Do you mind?” he asked, indicating your last, long-forgotten glass of wine. 

You waved your hand and watched as he picked it up and downed the contents in one gulp. 

“How can you stand that stuff? It’s too sweet.”

“Wine is something that’s supposed to get better stored in a cool place for a long time. I thought you of all people could appreciate that,” you replied with a good-natured smirk.

He laughed and it made you feel all warm inside. You wondered how long it had been since anything made him laugh. 

“So, about your problem,” he began, “as I see it, there are multiple options available to you, you just need to decide which one you want because once you do, you can’t double-back on it. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” 

“Option A: Your friend Barton comes back and tells you that he and his wife are getting a divorce because he’s finally realized he’s a total idiot and you’re the one true love of his life. You throw yourself in his arms and the two of you live happily ever after.”

“Assuming that’s even what he says when he does get back,” you said.

“Doll, I know I’ve been on ice the better part of the last seventy-plus years, but some things never change. I’ve seen how he looks at you.” 

Although it felt wrong, it made you immensely happy to think that Bucky might be right. That Clint might actually feel the same way about you that you had felt about him for so many years.

“Option B,” he began, pulling you out of your daydream. “You pick that prick Ross—“

“Bucky,” you gently warned. 

“Hey, the guy wanted to keep me strapped down in a plexiglass box for the rest of my natural life. I got a right to call him a prick.” 

“Fair enough.”

“Where was I? Oh right, you pick him because you obviously care about him for some reason, in which case you have to decide how to handle your relationship with Barton from here on out. Because let’s face it, he wouldn’t really want you hanging out with the guy who he knows you’ve always had romantic feelings for. The same situation might apply to Option A, but I don’t know how jealous Barton is or how much he even knows about you and Ross.” 

Rubbing your hands against your face in frustration, you sighed and said, “This isn’t helping.” 

“Well, there’s always Option C.”

“What’s Option C?” 

“You and I leave all this behind and run off to a gorgeous tropical beach where our only worry would be making sure we get all the sand out of my crevices,” he said, tapping his new metal arm with his other hand. 

This time it was your turn to laugh. He gave you a big smile, shrugged his shoulders and said, “It was worth a shot.” 

When you finished laughing, you suddenly grew very serious and said, “There’s also Option D to worry about.” 

“Which is?”

“That none of us make it out of this alive.” 

His smile faded as he stared at you. Then he reached over and took one of your hands in his. 

“Don’t think about that,” he said. “It doesn’t do anybody any good. Besides, I don’t think I’ve been kept alive this long just to get obliterated by some space freak. Someway, somehow, we’re going to win this.” 

“That doesn’t mean that all of us will.” 

“No, it doesn’t. Look, I don’t believe in making promises I can’t keep, but if you stick close to me during this fight, then I guarantee you that nothing will get to you unless it goes through me.” 

“Why do you care so much about what happens to me, Buck?”

“Because you gave a damn when you didn’t have to, and you treated me like a regular guy instead of a....well, let’s just say it didn’t go unnoticed.” 

Not knowing what to say, you squeezed his hands in yours and gave him a grateful smile. 

“Besides,” he began again, “you could use a little extra help on the battlefield.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Are you implying I can’t take care of myself?”

“Sweetie, you’re an amazing fighter, considering...”

“Considering what?”

“You haven’t been pumped full of supersoldier serum.”

“That’s...that’s irrelevant.”

“Or drank the juice of a weird, glowing flower.”

“Also, a moot point.”

“Don’t practice magic.”

“Well, I haven’t had the opportunity to.”

“Or turn into an indestructible green being the size of a house.”

“Okay, I’ve got it! You’ve made your point.”

Giving him a sideways glance, you could tell from the look on his face that he’d been baiting you in an attempt to lighten the mood. You started giggling loudly, which finally caused some movement at the far end of the couch.

“Well, Well, It looks like Sleeping Beauty is waking up without her kiss,” you said.

“More like Rip van Winkle with that beard,” Bucky said. “Good morning, Steve.” 

“Did you have a nice nap, Captain?” You asked.

You saw his eyes grow as big as saucers as the realization hit him.

“Y/n, I am so sorry!”

“For snoozing during my life story!”

“How insensitive of you, Steve,” Bucky interjected. “You’re a terrible friend. Good thing she had someone who actually cares around to listen.” 

“I’m going to regret you two getting so chummy, aren’t I?” Steve asked. 

Before either of you could respond, the sound of someone’s hurried footfalls coming down the hall made you all turn your attention to the doorway.

“A ship has landed,” Natasha said as she entered the room.

“One of ours?” Steve asked.

“No.”


	21. Everett’s Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first finale. I hope it’s good. I teared up while writing it anyway....Please let me know what you think.
> 
> P.S. I’ve changed up my plans for Clint’s chapter so now they aren’t going to be at all alike.

“I’m beginning to think your boyfriends aren’t coming back!” Bucky yelled between bursts of his rifle. 

“I called them before the fighting started! They said they had Scott and they were on the way!” 

“Well, they’re certainly taking their sweet time about it!” 

By the time the Quinjet carrying Clint, Everett, and Scott arrived, you had managed to work your way into the very middle of the fight. It seemed to last for an eternity. Every time you’d shoot one of those four-armed bastards, three more would pop up. But, eventually, the numbers were whittled down until there were none left. Once the dust began to settle, you rushed around looking for your loved ones. From a distance, you saw a group of them huddled close together so you started running towards them. As you drew near, only mere feet away from your destination, you were intercepted by Everett. He was dirty from the fight and looked visibly shaken. 

“Don’t, Y/n!” he said, grabbing you and not letting you move. “You don’t need to see!” 

Scanning the group in front of you, there was one person you couldn’t find.

“Everett, where’s Clint?” You asked as the sick feeling of panic began to grow inside of you. “Where is he?”

“Y/n, you don’t need to see. Believe me,” was all he managed.

You started to fight against his hold on you, and when you finally managed to slip free, you punched him hard in the face so he wouldn’t have a chance to grab you again. Running forward so quickly you almost tripped, you shoved your way into the middle of the circle. 

“Clint,” you whimpered as you looked down at him. His entire midsection was a complete mess, with gaping holes so large you could see inside them. When your eyes fell on his face, you saw that he was still alive.

“Clint!” You screamed as you dropped down beside him and took ahold of his head. “Clint, hold on! We’re going to get you all fixed up. I promise. T’Challa’s people are really good. They’ll have you better in no time.”

“It’s too late,” he said quietly. “More of me is missing than there is left.” 

“Don’t say that!” you yelled at him as you started sobbing. “I can’t lose you! I need you!” 

“I need to tell you something,” he said, reaching up and caressing your cheek with his fingers. “My eyesight isn’t as good as we thought it was.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t see what was always right in front of me. I love you, baby. I was going to come back and ask you to marry me. If I had gotten to, what would you have said?”

“I would have said ‘yes.’”

He gave you a sad smile before saying, “I guess we aren’t going to have a chance to be everything we were meant to be.” 

“Haven’t we already been?” You said as you stroked his hair. “Maybe I never got to be Mrs. Y/n Barton, but nothing in this world could have made me love you more than I already do....more than I always have.”

You leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, pouring all your love and all your agony into it as you did so. If you were going to lose him, you didn’t want there to be any more doubts between you...no more hidden feelings. When you stopped, you lingered near his face, not wanting to leave him. 

“Time for me to trust someone else to have your back, partner,” he whispered. You opened your eyes to see that his were no longer looking back at you. 

“Clint?” You pleaded. “Clint!” 

“There’s a second wave coming,” Steve said somewhere behind you. “She can’t stay here.” 

Amidst your frantic sobbing, you became aware of a pair of arms wrapping around you and lifting you up off the ground.

“No! I can’t leave him here!” You begged. “Let me go! I can’t leave him!” 

As his body faded out of sight, the last thing you were fully conscious of was the bloodcurdling scream of heartbreak you left behind you. 

———————-

After the crying finally subsided, all you could do was lay on the bench and stare at the wall in front of you. Ever since Bucky grabbed you off the battlefield, he had stayed close by, keeping a watchful eye on you. Now, he sat at your feet standing guard. 

“I don’t know how to live without him,” you finally muttered. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can, and you will,” Bucky said. “It will hurt like hell, and it will probably be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do, but you will do it. You’ll do it because he would have wanted you to. You won’t be alone. You’ll have me, Steve, Natasha, Wanda...all of us. We’ll help you.” 

You sat up and rested your head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders to comfort you and the pair of you stayed like that, much as you had on the first day you met. Neither of you stirred until Everett entered the room. When you saw him, you averted your gaze, although you didn’t know why. 

“Could you excuse us a minute?” Everett asked Bucky. Bucky looked at you and you nodded your head slightly. 

“I’ll be right outside if you need me.” 

Once you were alone, Everett took Bucky’s spot next to you. 

“I’m sorry,” he said after awhile. “Anything you need, I’m here for you...” 

He reached out for you and, without thinking, you scooted away from him. Glancing up, you saw the hurt in his eyes, but all you knew was that you couldn’t stand to look at him. Just being near him was causing you additional pain. There had been too many years with the two of them. Too many years of balancing one with the other. You didn’t know if you’d ever be able to look at Everett again without thinking of Clint. 

“Please,” you whispered, “go away.” 

He lingered for a moment before he quietly got up and walked away. When he was gone, you laid back down on the bench and wept all over again. 

——————

TWO YEARS LATER

“Alright, tell me what you see,” Steve’s voice said in your earpiece. 

“Bodyguards...two...no, three of them. Lightly armed,” you said as you made your way across the casino floor. 

“Outside is a slightly different story,” you heard Bucky say. “Same number of guards, but these aren’t shy about what they’re carrying. I see some serious firepower.” 

“Well, we’d like to get out of here without engaging,” Natasha said. 

“Now, what would be the fun in that?” Sam chimed in. 

Trying to look inconspicuous, you leaned against one of the tables and started playing with the chips in your hand. You shifted slightly as you felt someone squeeze in beside you, but you froze in place when they whispered, “You know, you still don’t know how to look like you’re having fun at this.” 

Keeping up your cover, you turned casually, as if you were simply taking in your surroundings, to find Everett standing there. This was the first time you’d seen him since the day...you shook your head to banish those images. You thought about Clint often, but you chose to only focus on the happy memories. 

“I didn’t know the CIA was going to be involved in this,” You said.

“And I didn’t know the Avengers were going to try to steal my mark. We called dibs on him first.” 

“If we thought anyone else could handle him, we wouldn’t be here. I’d be at home sipping on a glass of wine while continuing to familiarize Bucky with modern cinema.” 

“I heard you and Barnes had grown rather close,” he said with a distasteful tone. 

“We understand each other. He’s been a good friend to me.”

“Y/n, have we been compromised?” Steve asked.

You looked at Everett and asked, “Steve wants to know if we’ve been compromised. What should I tell him?”

“If the Avengers want him that bad, you can have him. He’s going to get hell either way, right?” He said with a smile.

You smiled back at him and said, “We’re good, Cap. Clear to proceed.”

Slipping his hands in his pants pockets, Everett looked down at the floor and said, “I’ll let you get back to work. It was wonderful seeing you, y/n.” 

As he turned to walk away, you grabbed him by the arm and said, “Ev, wait. I’m sorry about the way I acted the day...the last time I saw you. I just couldn’t be around you without thinking of him and...it hurt so much. I didn’t mean to hurt you in return.” 

He placed his hand on top of yours where it rested on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. Then he turned and walked away. 

“Well, are you going to go after him or what?” Bucky asked in your ear.

“What?” You said in disbelief. 

“Bucky’s right on this one,” Natasha said. “You should definitely go after him.”

“Natasha, I—“

“We’ll take care of this,” Sam said. “Don’t let him get away.”

“Guys, I really don’t think—“

“Y/n,” Steve said, cutting you off, “Clint said it was time for him to trust someone else to take care of you. I think this is what he meant.” 

You suddenly became aware of a stray tear making its way down your face. Wiping it away, you stared in the direction that Everett had left before pulling your earpiece out and hurrying through the crowded casino. 

“Ev!” You yelled out when you finally caught up to him outside. He stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around to face you. 

Taking a deep breath, you realized you wished you had planned out what you were going to say. You finally decided that there was only one thing worth saying, and that was the truth. 

“I’ve only ever known how to be one man’s partner. But, if you haven’t given up on me yet...I’d like to try to learn how to be yours.” 

You watched as he turned around and looked at you. He started moving towards you, slowly and deliberately, never increasing his pace. When he got to you, he gently pushed a strand of your hair back behind your ear before he pulled you in for a kiss. It was powerful and passionate and said everything that needed to be said. 

After he finished, he held you tight and whispered in your ear, “How many times do I have to tell you? I’ll never give up on you.”


	22. Clint’s Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t decide if Clint’s ending is good or not.

When the Quinjet finally arrived at the battle, you hurriedly pushed your way through the fighting forces and sprinted over to it. Before you could decide who to run to first, the decision was made for you, but it wasn’t the one you were expecting. As you climbed the ramp, Scott popped out of nowhere and grabbed you up into a hug. 

“I knew you’d miss me!” he said. “Or was that super dramatic reunion meant for someone else?”

Returning his embrace, you laughed and said, “Of course it was for you, Scottie. I’m glad you could come. Ready to kick some ass?”

“You betcha!” he replied, pushing the button on his glove and disappearing into thin air. You glanced past where he had been standing to find Clint and Everett looking at you. Suddenly, you didn’t know what to say to them. As you tried to think of something, you noticed Everett was very out of place with only his one handgun. 

“You can’t fight with just that,” you said. As your eyes scanned the battlefield for your target, you finally laid eyes on him and pointed. “Over there...Bucky’s got at least one gun strapped to every single part of his body. I’m sure he can spare some of them.” 

Once you and Clint were alone, you turned and went down the ramp and back into the battle. As you shot your first alien, you felt someone’s back find yours and you heard the familiar sound of one arrow after another being released.

“I told you we were going to have a talk as soon as I got back,” Clint said behind you.

“Is now really the time for that?” You asked. 

“We might not get a later,” he answered. “While I was gone, I thought up all this stuff I could tell you about how I shouldn’t have married someone else, and you and I should’ve gotten together years ago, but then I realized it was all bullshit so I threw it out.” 

“Clint, if this is the talk you needed to have with me, I could’ve lived without it.”

“You didn’t let me finish. It’s bullshit because, let’s be honest, I wasn’t smart enough back then to even realize what you really mean to me. If we had somehow ended up together, I probably would have messed it up. Then I would have lost the one person, apart from my kids, that I’d rather die than live without...the woman who has always been there for me no matter what. So it may have taken me half a lifetime to figure things out, but if I’ve finally learned how to get you and me right, then it was worth every minute of the wait.” 

“What are you trying to say, Clint?” You asked, bubbling up inside. You knew what he was trying to say, but you desperately wanted to hear those three little words take on a new meaning between you. His hand landed on your arm and he turned you around so you were facing him. 

“Saying I love you wouldn’t be enough, not after all these years...but maybe this will be.” 

He wrapped one of his strong arms around your waist, moved his other hand to the back of your head, and pulled you close until his lips crashed onto yours. Even though you knew that the battle didn’t slow down around you, and a romantic theme didn’t start to play in the background as he kissed you...it sure felt like it did. 

———————-

After the war was over, you and Clint made your way around the field checking on all of your friends. When you found Everett, he looked dirty and tired, but no worse for wear. You let go of Clint’s hand and ran to him, throwing your arms around his neck and giving him a tight squeeze. As you held him, you realized that it was time the two of you had a talk in private. After you let go, you turned to Clint and asked, “Can we have a minute?” 

“Sure,” he said, giving you a nod and walking away. 

You reached down, took Everett’s hands in yours, and said, “Ev, I—“

“You don’t have to,” he interrupted. “I saw that little Pirates of the Caribbean scene earlier. It said it all.” 

You didn’t know how to respond so you just squeezed his hands tighter. 

“Y/n, I have to ask you something.”

“Anything. What is it?”

“When you stood by Barton all those years, is it because you knew this would happen eventually? That you would get what you always wanted?”

“No, Ev, I never imagined this would happen. I stood by him because he meant too much to me to give him up. That’s what love is all about...putting that person ahead of yourself. It didn’t matter if I could have him or not, I just wanted to be there for him.” 

“Maybe it’s time for me to take a page out of your book,” he quietly said after awhile. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Our relationship since SHIELD can be summed up as we go several years without seeing each other, then we reunite and I get the idea that we’re going to get together. The truth of the matter is...I really miss you when we’re apart. You’re my friend...and you’re about the only one I’ve got.” 

Suddenly getting an idea, you told him to wait there and then you ran off. When you reached your destination, you dug around until you found a piece of paper, a pen, and a makeshift folder. You scribbled on the paper before sticking it in the folder and hurrying back.

“Here,” you said, handing him the folder. You watched as he silently read what you wrote, and his look of confusion turned into a surprised smile. 

“You wanted me to join your team,” you began, “and we both now how badly that worked out. Now I’m asking you to join mine. All you’ve got to do is sign.”

“I’m not a superhero,” he replied.

“Neither am I. I just do what I can to help the people I consider to be my family. Given some time, they could be yours, too.” After a few moments of silence, you added, “I miss you when you’re not around, too, you know.”

He studied the paper in his hands, obviously thinking it over, then he asked, “Have you got a pen?” 

———————-

ONE YEAR LATER

The radio was playing quietly in the background while you tried to finish up the meal you were preparing. Your cooking skills had improved some in the past few months. All the free time away from the job probably had something to do with that. As you pulled the chicken that was baking out of the oven, you were startled by the sound of your three stepchildren running through the front door of the house. 

“Shh! You three need to quiet down!” you gently scolded.

“It isn’t going to matter anyway,” your husband said as he leaned against the front door frame in his t-shirt and jeans, wearing his trademark smirk. “We’ve got company.” 

Not five minutes later, your front door was almost ripped off its hinges by Bucky and Sam trying to fit through it at the same time. Once they made it inside, they didn’t stop to speak to you or Clint, but ran right past you and straight up the stairs. 

“Good to see you, too,” you muttered under your breath. 

“Seems like you’re just old news now,” Natasha said as she entered the room, followed by Wanda and Steve. You trotted over and gave each of them a hug in turn. 

“We got here as soon as we heard. Sorry we couldn’t be here the day of,” Steve said. 

“It’s okay, Cap. I know how the job is.” 

“Do you think those two are okay without supervision?” Wanda asked.

“Probably not,” Natasha replied. “I’ll go check on them.”

“We’re doing just fine,” Bucky said as he came down the stairs, carrying your little newborn bundle in his arms as he did so. 

“He beat me there,” Sam pouted.

You watched as all of them crowded around Bucky to look at your son. 

“He’s beautiful,” Natasha said. 

“Looks just like his mama,” Bucky said.

“Really dodged a bullet then. I was afraid he was going to end up looking like his old man,” a voice from the front door chimed in. You turned to find Everett still lingering in the doorway. Walking over, you gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before saying, “I’m glad you could make it. I want you to meet him.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replied. 

“What did you name him?” Wanda asked. 

Still looking at Everett, you said, “Everett Stephen James Barton.” 

If you didn’t know better, you would sworn his eyes got a little misty. Behind you, you heard Steve say, “You noticed Stephen got a higher billing than James.”

“Only because it flowed better, I’m sure,” Bucky snapped. 

“Here, let me hold him,” Everett said, moving over and taking the baby out of Natasha’s arms. When you moved over to stand beside Clint, he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and gave you a peck on the temple. The pair of you watched as your odd little family got acquainted with its newest member. Your eyes stayed on them until some familiar lyrics from the radio found your ears:

 

Baby, if I had to choose  
My best day ever  
My finest hour  
My wildest dream come true

 

“Mine would be you,” you finished for him.

“What did you say, baby?” Clint asked.

Putting your hand on his cheek and staring into his eyes, you said, “Mine would be you, Clint. Mine will ALWAYS be you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!! Please tell me what you think. I’ve put A LOT of work into this story. Also, please consider checking out the song Mine Would Be You by Blake Shelton. Even if it isn’t your taste, it did inspire this fic and I think listening to it would add an extra “layer” to the story. Thank you for sticking with me “til the end of the line!”


End file.
